LOVE
by bla338
Summary: "Seth has been messing with my imprint behind everyone's back, cheating on his girlfriend and stealing my one chance of happiness." I lay on the ground coiled up as Jacob yelled my crimes out to the whole pack and whoever seemed to witness my brutal trial
1. Book One: Alex: A Beginning

**Book One: Alex**

**A Beginning**

There are a lot of stories out there in the world, and all of them talk about love and betrayal and vengeance and how eventually they triumphed over it all, and they're now happily married with the one person they love the most. My story isn't like that. It doesn't have that stupid fairy tale ending everyone seemed to be blessed with. Mine is about pain and how no matter what you do that pain becomes a part of you and it drives away the one thing you care about.

I guess my story started out with a chair. It was this very chair that seemed to have caused everything in my life to turn out the way it was despite contrary beliefs. Without that chair certain things wouldn't have happened and who knows where I would've ended up by now? Probably where I started out…

A small red chair was placed awkwardly in the middle of our living room. It was surrounded by a tan sofa, a mahogany coffee table, a tan carpet, a wide screen TV, and light blue walls. Considering our whole house (besides my bedroom) was a nice earthy or beach color scheme the red chair stood out no matter where our mother decided to place it. The chair was always the first thing to stand out in a room and was where most of my memories were made.

I was cramped into the small red chair with my best friend Aaron somehow cramped into the chair with me. The chair was obviously made for one very petite person to squeeze inside and how we managed to fit both of our rather voluptuous bodies into the chair was a mystery within itself. Aaron was squished on the armrest with half of her butt planted firmly on my right leg while her legs were dangling across my left leg and over the side of the chair to where they were a good two feet from the ground (the chair sat very low). My arm was wrapped around her waist to support her body while the other arm rested somewhat awkwardly on her legs. Across from us sat my friend Catalina who had her whole body resting across the tan sofa staring at Aaron and I's cramped position. She was clearly amused however, Aaron and I were not.

Aaron shifted uncomfortably ramming her elbow into my stomach before quickly muttering an apology and safely folding her hands in her lap where they wouldn't injure my already sore body. I sent a quick glare at Catalina who sighed contently before grasping yet another handful of chips from a bowl placed on the coffee table and carefully placing them in her mouth.

"So when was Seth planning on gracing us with his appearance," Catalina asked checking her watch. It was currently 10:40 and Seth was forty -no forty-two- minutes late. It was in a way expected of him ever since he waltzed off into Sam's little gang. If it wasn't for the fact we had picked our partners for our project before Seth joined Sam's gang he would've been completely cut out of our lives.

I drummed my fingers lightly against Aaron's leg choosing to ignore Catalina's question. My focus was purely on the bowl of chips placed in front of us. I ached to reach my hand out and grab one, but the realization that if I were to even attempt that both Aaron and me would end up sprawled out on the ground from falling out of the small red chair.

It wasn't until almost 11:00 that Seth dashed into the door and sat down next to Catalina on the sofa his backpack in his hand. I stared at his face for a moment as he dug around his bag before pulling out a pile of papers. I had spent an hour waiting on his ass practically planning how I would curse him out and the first chance I get I end up staring at his face like a kid staring at a free pile of candy.

Smooth.

Seth smiled up at me and I quickly averted my gaze before I had a chance to blush or do something that would acknowledge that smile he always graced me with. Catalina grunted in annoyance as she pulled out the piece of poster board. She immediately jumped into ideas for our presentation occasionally asking our opinions. My eyes were planted firmly on Seth's face. His eyes were concentrated on Catalina's report nodding occasionally as he would sometimes put in his input attracting a glare from Aaron.

"What do you think Alex," I glanced up from my staring contest with the table giving Seth my best blank stare. Had he been saying something? "I think given the circumstances it would make more sense to have each of us contribute to this small issue than just trust Catalina with the job."

"What were we talking about?" I asked. Aaron snickered while Seth rolled his eyes with that classic Oh-dear-Lord-help-you look. Catalina looked almost pleased with my airhead answer, and I felt that something behind the scenes had just happened. "What were you talking about?" I groaned when no one answered choosing instead to start up a staring match with the ceiling.

"And this is why she doesn't run our projects," Aaron stated folding her arms across her chest wobbling the chair in the process. I threw my legs out in front of us hooking them underneath the table to stop the wobbling before it could fall. "Sure, she's good for food and a house, but that's about it."

Seth frowned instead deciding on working on the poster board. I remembered him being much more laid back than he currently was. He would always be joking around. He was the poster child for weird 80s movies where guys slacked off and ran around the place with girls going to beaches and hanging out at malls. Sam had changed him. Suddenly, Seth was serious and taking projects serious. The only time he really let loose was when he was hanging out with Jacob or Embry. I'm not even sure if they count as letting loose. He didn't have that natural Seth feel when he was with him.

By the time I had tuned into the conversation, it was 3:00 and Seth was grabbing his bag shuffling his way to the door. Nobody moved to walk him out or offered to let him stay longer. We all stared awkwardly at opposite walls until the door slammed shut and each of us got up disappearing to opposite corners of the room to wait for their parents to pick them up.

{Insert Line}

I stared blankly at the wall for the next forty minutes going through possible escape options as my mom talked about a sweetheart dance that was being held at First Beach to celebrate the Fourth of July. I was all for ditching the dance ever since Seth had decided it would be a waste of his time for us to go together. I didn't want to get dressed up and go to a dance to watch the guy I've had a crush on for years dance around with some chic. My mother of course had a different opinion.

After at least a week of fighting, she managed to force me into a pink skirt with a white tank top (with pink suspenders that she reluctantly let me wear), ram me into cute black flats, and send me off to the dance with Brady Michaels hanging off of my arm. He wore skinny jeans, black and white high tops, with a white shirt I just attempting to be a look alike Seth. Clearly, Seth was the only person who wore things like that religiously. As cute as it would look on Seth, it obviously did not do the same affect on Brady Michaels, who ceremoniously ditched me to hang out with his best friend Collin Andrews.

I stomped around the dance for at least an hour pushing my way through hot sweaty bodies who were attempting to do the Dougie before my eyes finally found Aaron lip locking Jared Cole. Aaron had been dating Jared for at least seven months and they were madly in love. I don't mean that kind of I love you and two seconds later I'm over with you love. I mean that kind of I could stare at you for years and never get sick of your face kind of love. They were always touching, leaning into each other, or holding hands. He was the only member of Sam's gang any of us could stand – if you don't include Seth.

I managed to make it over to them in one piece and forcefully rip Aaron out of Jared's arms. She pouted at me giving a look of apology to her boyfriend. "Don't mind her." Aaron rolled her eyes and Jared wrapped his arms around her. "She's just upset because her mom forced to go to this." I grunted in response causing Jared to laugh.

"It's OK babe," he gently kissed Aaron's cheek, forehead, and nose before walking away sending a crowd of lust filled girls to follow after him. Eighty percent of girls would kill for a kiss from the infamous Jared Cole. I'm positive ninety percent of girls would do more than kill for a kiss from _anyone_ in Sam's gang. Including the gorgeous Jacob Black who was currently fawning over Bella Swan and desperately needing someone to bring him out of his Bella induced haze.

"What do you want?" Aaron whined. She glanced back at Jared anxiously as he high fived Paul Meraz enthusiastically. "I'm lucky to have a guy that, especially because he's a senior, and you go and break up our moment!" She huffed half heartedly as he glanced up from his conversation with Paul to give a quick smile to Aaron.

"Seth's here," Aaron was the only person who knew about my infatuation with Seth, something that I had been reluctant to tell anyone, especially her. There was a high probability that she still wouldn't know if she hadn't unexpectedly walked into my house right when I was writing one of my many poems about him. "He's dancing with Ashley Simmons." Her eyes turned sympathetic as she glanced over to where everyone was dancing not too surprised to see Seth grinding on Ashley Simmons just as I had stated. "It's only been a week-and-a-half since he ditched me as a date and now he's dancing with Ashley _Simmons_." My chest constricted as he bent down to whisper something in her ear turning her face a healthy shade of pink.

"I thought he really liked me," I whined. Denial was something I didn't take well especially if it was from the man I had liked every since second grade. "Were we not the best of friends three weeks ago, and now he's avoiding me like a criminal running from the cops." Aaron raised an eyebrow at my analogy, but stayed quiet.

Aaron stayed quiet as she watched Seth pull Ashley in closer laying sweet kisses on her neck. It was too much for me. I had spun around facing the water allowing the tears to run down my face. I didn't acknowledge Aaron's arms as she hugged me, nor did I notice her quick response of "she's not feeling well" when Jared asked why I was upset. Normally, his attention was focused on Aaron, but whenever I was feeling down it made our close knit circle of friends feel slightly less happy. I was the life of the party, and without me we were just a unit of people going through the motions.

_**Jared gave me a quick hug before kissing Aaron goodbye telling her that he would see her later on that night, but he had to drop a wasted Embry Call off to his house before he got another girl pregnant. Embry Call was almost just as infamous as Paul Meraz for being the local man whore of La Push High. He had gotten two girls pregnant and dated at least half the population of girls on the reservation in a time span of six months.**_

_**Embry wasn't the best guy to choose in Sam's gang. He wasn't as good looking as Seth or Jacob, he wasn't as strong as Paul, he wasn't as athletic as Jared, nor did he have as much sex appeal as Quil. All-in-all he would be my last pick for a one night stand, but considering Quil was not too good with the opposite sex, Jacob was hung up over Bella, Jared was dating Aaron, Seth would only give a handful of girls the time of day, and there was a rumor Paul had syphilis… let's just say the other options weren't too good.**_

_**Catalina had managed to stumble over to us occasionally grabbing onto her "date" who happened to be Brady Michael's best friend, Collin Andrews, that he had ditched me for. Brady looked amused at Catalina who was basically draped over Collin, and Collin being the goody two shoes he was did not look like he knew how to handle the situation. I had only talked to Collin a handful of times choosing instead to spend my hours with Brady who was much cooler.**_

"_**How are you holding up, my beautiful date?" Brady joked as he wrapped his muscular arm around my waist. I wouldn't say Brady was in my friend circle, but I knew him well enough to classify him as a somewhat close friend. **_

_**I hastily wiped the tears from my eyes not wanting anyone to ask questions on why I had been crying. Once I was sure they were gone I glanced up at Brady with a look of pure ignorance. "I'm just sitting here waiting for the fireworks to start." Brady squinted off further down the beach away from the massive bonfire. I couldn't see too far away, but Brady must've been able to see Sam's figure hunched over somewhere as he set up the fireworks with one of his henchman (most likely Paul Meraz since the man had gone missing for the past hour.)**_

"_**They're setting them up," he stated pulling me over to the crowd of dancers. The music got louder and I frowned at Brady's innocent façade. "While we're waiting we should dance." I glanced over at Seth and Ashley Simmons before making a grimace. Why couldn't we sit on the beach or dance away from the crowd of sweaty dancers?**_

_**Before I was able to announce an excuse that would save me the embarrassment, I was bobbing along to the beat of the loud music. Brady's arms were awkwardly large and beefy around my tiny waist as we danced. I managed to give Aaron a quick glance only to see her focusing her eyes on Seth's massive form that was heading towards me. I shrank deeper into Brady's form shocked when Seth's voice rang out.**_

"_**Hey, Alex, we need to talk about some really important… things," Seth's voice sounded awkwardly loud compared to the other silent conversations being held under the loud music. I hesitated slightly at Seth's stiff posture before pulling away from Brady.**_

"_**Call me if Seth gets out of hand," Brady whispered. I gave him a brief nod before following Seth to the woods. By the time the sounds of the party had died away to a brief hum, we were almost back to a small dirt path that lead further up the cliffs to where Seth and his gang of friend went cliff diving.**_

"_**Why were you dancing with Brady Michaels?" Seth asked. His voiced sounded rough and hostile, and for a moment it took me by surprise. "He's weird, creepy, and last time I checked you wanted nothing to do with him." I blinked for a moment still shocked at Seth's sudden hostility. I had done nothing wrong. Since when was dancing with a friend a crime?**_

_**Remember, this is Seth you're talking to.**_

_**I cringed at my inner voice and Seth's eyes softened clearly taking my cringe as a response to his earlier comments. He rubbed his arms up and down jumping slightly. Did he really think I owed him a response? I might be infatuated with him, but I was not naïve.**_

"_**Why were you dancing with Ashley Simmons?" I countered with just as much malice in my voice. He looked taken back by my response and I folded my arms across my chest defiantly. Two could play this game. "She's weird, creepy, and last time I checked you wanted nothing to do with her." He stayed quiet and I mentally rewarded myself.**_

_**One for Alex and zero for Seth**_

_**Seth grasped my arm keeping a tight grip on it making sure that I wouldn't be able to pull away. "I was dancing with her because she asked and it would be rude to say no. Is that all you wanted to ask?" His words were quick and were spoken with as much force as a whip. They slashed at my heart leaving no piece unmarked. When I didn't answer his question, he pulled me closer keeping his forehead pressed against mine. "Why are you always avoiding me?"**_

"_**I don't understand." That question was unexpected. I was prepared for a question relating back to the first question he asked. This one was something that I wasn't even sure that I knew the answer to. Sure, I knew I had been avoiding him and I probably will keep avoiding him for some time, but the fact that it was this obvious made me question how many people also knew about my avoidance of Seth.**_

"_**Don't play dumb."**_

_**By now he was in my face, I could smell his cologne and every feature on his oh-so gorgeous face stood out in the moonlight. My breath caught in my throat and Seth sighed as if he knew the fact that we were so close caused me to almost have a panic attack. He immediately put another two inches of space between, yet managed to keep us close enough so I could feel the heat radiating off of his body.**_

"_**You act like you're avoiding, but whenever you think I'm not looking you're always staring at me or checking me out-" I chose this precise moment to scoff and roll my eyes despite the stutter my heart gave "-and I want to know why you're avoiding me."**_

"_**You notice those things about me?" I asked. The fact that Seth had paid attention to me had my heart pounding twice as fast which once again resulted in Seth putting another inch of space between us in a vain attempt to slow down the ferocious pounding.**_

"_**I notice a lot of things about you." he whispered. His breath tickled my ear and I stepped closer taking advantage of this moment. "I notice things you probably don't even realize." I swallowed nervously somehow managing to fit my bottom lip in my mouth. This conversation was one that I had been dying to have for years and now that it was finally happening I felt strangely unprepared and exposed. His thumb found my lip gently pulling it out of my mouth. I kept my eyes glued on his eyes which were currently glued on my lips.**_

"_**How long have you noticed these things?" I whispered. His face was oddly close and a piece of me felt like it was getting closer but I nervously brushed it off.**_

"_**For a while," he replied not bothering to keep his voice low like I had.**_

_**OK, he was definitely too close. His lips were brushing against mine with every word he spoke and it was a dangerously new and thrilling concept to me. For years Seth had been just a friend, and now he was in kissing distance. This was an off-limits type thing that could lead to dangerous things, and that **_**would**_** lead to dangerous things, but I ignored that feeling. I was going to focus on Seth and only Seth.**_

_**He lowered his head even more and suddenly his soft lips were on mine. If I thought my heart was pounding before, it definitely was now! All I could hear was my heart. The cool night air on my skin was suddenly nonexistent when Seth wrapped his arm around my waist keeping the other one pressed against my back. I wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him in closer. My lips felt like they would burn off from the heat of Seth's skin and the feeling of electricity that was pumping through my veins.**_

_**Our kiss had to have lasted only a few seconds before Seth pulled away. The look in his eye was one of a boy who had just devoured all of his mother's homemade cookies when she had stated not to eat any before dinner. (Yes, I understand these analogies were a little weird, but eventually you'll get used to them.) He looked like instead of tasting just one cookie he had emptied the whole damn jar and he knew there was going to be consequences. **_

_**I couldn't fathom the idea of there being a downside to that spectacular moment when we kissed. Of course we had been close before, and besides the fact that Seth had ditched us for a few months there was nothing that would stop us from having a relationship. After all, Aaron and Jared were madly and awkwardly in love.**_

_**My mental rambling was cut short when Seth's arms dropped to his sides with his hands clenched in tight fists. His eyes had none of that warmth that was there before and purely out of instinct I folded my arms across my chest resting my weight on my left foot. I mimicked the blank look that was on his face and he shoved his hands in his pockets.**_

"_**I'll see you tomorrow." He walked away going deeper into the woods and further away from the party.**_

_**I'm not sure how long I ended up standing there, but eventually I heard a loud cheer from the direction of First Beach followed by the very distant sound of fireworks. "Happy Fourth of July."**_

_**{Insert Line}**_

_**The next day was filled with me stumbling around the house in my pajamas which consisted of a pair of thin cotton shorts and a too small tank top. I barely noticed anything that went on around me. My mind was still focused on my kiss with Seth, and me being the faithful friend I was I had gone to Aaron directly after I heard the fireworks and told her with accurate detail how the kiss had happened. Of course I hadn't told Catalina deciding if I did I would end up having to explain my whole Seth obsession with her and that was completely out of the question.**_

_**I smiled briefly touching my lips as the memory of his lips on mine. What I would give for another kiss like that…**_

**Ding Dong!**

_**Of course I had managed to lose myself f in another set of Seth induced fantasies right when someone decides to stop in for a visit. I quickly threw a jacket on over my thin shirt before dashing towards the door. Stumbling only once, I threw open the door shocked when Seth was standing there soaking wet from the rain and holding a brown paper bag. His hair was matted down and his muscles stood out twice as much in the rain which was drowning me in yet another set of Seth induced fantasies.**_

"_**Can I come in or shall I stand in the rain all day and let the bagels get soggy?" I contemplated the pros and cons before deciding to allow Seth in. I won't lie to you dear read so believe me when I say the one thing that let me invite Seth in my house was the possibility of receiving another kiss. "It's nice to see you too." he muttered walking into my kitchen. I blinked dumbly before slamming the door shut and following him.**_

"_**What are you doing here?" I instantly slapped my hands over my mouth as soon as the words left my mouth. He smiled as if he expected me to say something as rude as that. The action stunned me for a moment. He had rarely smiled at me ever since he had joined Sam's gang and ever since smiling had been an even rarer event.**_

"_**I told you that I'd see you tomorrow yesterday." He stated. His mind was a one-track thought kind of mind and when he made his mind up there was no changing it. You either managed to hit him hard enough to force him to switch gears or you just accept it. This was one of those things I knew I should force him to switch gears on, but curiosity wanted me to just accept it. After all, Seth Clearwater came to my house the day after we kissed with breakfast.**_

_**I dumbly nodded forcing my lips to move. "We're not doing the project today." **_

_**Smooth.**_

"_**I can't stop by and visit my best friend," he poked me in the ribs and I frowned. That soaring feeling I felt had disappeared. He didn't think of me like how I thought of him. When he noticed things about me, it was in the friendship way and not the utterly and over obsessively in love kind of way. For once I had wished my life would turn out like a romance movie.**_

"_**Of course you can, but it just so happens that best friends don't exactly kiss, and if they did kiss it wouldn't be that type of kiss we had yesterday."**_

_**Two for Alex still a stunning zero for Seth**_

"_**Maybe we're more than friends."**_

_**Shit. Now not only was the score two for Alex and one for Seth, but he was moving in closer and I refused to have my mother come back from her shift at the hospital to see me lip-locking with Seth Clearwater. The exact man I had whined to her about when he ditched Aaron, Catalina, and me.**_

"_**We could be friends with benefits." As soon as those words came out of my mouth I wanted to slap myself in the face. Of course I was **_**helping**_** his suggestion instead of shooting it down. "Have all that good friendship crap with beneficial crap as well." He smiled leaning across the counter so we were even closer together.**_

**Ding Dong!**

_**His lips had barely brushed mine when the doorbell rang for the second agonizing time of the day and I groaned in annoyance ignoring Seth's amused expression. Obviously there was something funny about that damned doorbell ruining my life.**_

_**I stomped towards the door for yet the second time that day before yanking it open. I nearly stumbled backwards when I found myself face-to-face with a highly toned chest. Blinking dumbly I looked up shocked when none other than Jacob Black was standing in my doorway. All my anger and annoyance had disappeared when I looked into his eyes.**_

_**Damn.**_

"_**Who is it?" Seth's voice broke me out of my trance and I warily looked up at him. "Oh hey Jake," Jacob didn't acknowledge Seth's voice, but instead his eyes were staring at my small form as I moved to partially hide behind Seth. It didn't take Seth too long to realize that Jake was paying no attention to him. His eyes widened as he frantically looked back and forth between us. "Shit, fuck, no no no no no." he immediately grabbed my hand and pushed me into the kitchen.**_

"_**What the hell, Seth?"**_

"_**I'm sorry. I'll be back tomorrow and we'll go swimming or something, OK?" I just barely managed to nod my head wondering why he had felt the need to whisper to the point where I could barely hear him.**_

_**I watched as Seth pushed Jacob out the house slamming the door angrily behind him. I stood frozen in that spot thinking over what just happened and why it had to do with me? After all I didn't even know Jacob well enough to even consider him an acquaintance, but he stared at me as if we had been friends for life and had not seen each other in years.**_

_**What was going on in Sam's gang?**_


	2. The Relationship

**Book One: Alex**

**The "Relationship"**

I nervously stuffed my hands in my pockets as I walked up and down the beach. I glanced at my watch before returning my pacing. It was a pattern. Walk, stop, watch, sigh, walk, and repeat. The one bad thing about marching up and down the beach was it gave you time to think… which would only lead to panic.

Thoughts blurred together shifting so that my mind was focused around one simple question. Had he ditched me for someone else? The message he had left on my phone after dragging Jacob Black off my front porch was quick and simple. It stated to meet him here at three o' clock, and a quick glance at my watch told me it was half past four. I had been waiting for an hour and a half and the closest I saw to Seth was a little boy running down the beach with his mother chasing after him.

Pacing around the beach lasted another twenty minutes before I stomped back to my car angrily. I should've known better. Sam's gang was only good for hurting people not helping people. I managed to make it to my car in a short fifty seconds before leaping into the small cab and beginning to pull out of the beach parking lot.

"Alex," I groaned softly as Jacob's voice reached my ears through my glass window. I briefly considered running over him before reluctantly rolling down my window. "Hey, Seth couldn't make it because Sam sent him to do something, but he sent me to tell you he'll meet you later today."

I wanted to be happy at the fact that Seth hadn't forgotten about me, but the idea that he'd rather send Jacob to tell me then tell me himself was enough to make whatever feelings I had disappear. "You want to tell me that Seth decided to ditch me and sent you to make up for it." His expression suddenly changed as he thought about the downside to the situation and I grunted before pulling out of the parking lot.

* * *

My mind was trying to focus on the project the Elder's had assigned us. Who needed to do a project in the summer? Of course the Elder's were convinced that my friends and I were "special" because we were half-Quileute, so we were required to do projects for the Elders. Seth just worked with us because the Elder's said we were welcome to have one "non-special" citizens of La Push help us and at the time Seth seemed like a good candidate. Our projects were mainly helping around at the various stores any of the Elder's owned. Right now we had to come up with a new style of moccasins for Sue's store, and she had basically shot down any idea we had come up with.

I sat at my desk thinking up ideas for the next twenty or so minutes before a knock on my window startled me. I slowly turned around shocked when Seth was perched in my windowsill already sliding the window up. The last time he attempted to climb in my window was when we were friends and he needed a ladder in order to do that. How had he managed to get up the brick wall? Sure he could've climbed up the tree and leapt onto the window sill, but that would require you to be able to jump at least six feet...

"Hey, babe," Seth grunted finally managing to squeeze through the window only to collapse on the floor. "Did you miss me?" His words made me remember how he stood me up at the beach, and I turned around so I was facing my desk. I was supposed to be mad at him, not staring at him as he climbed through my window. "Sorry, about not making it earlier, Sam sent me to go check up on Paul and Jared. They apparently rented a house that the Elder's decided to give them. It's some kind of thank you gift or whatever since they needed a place to stay."

I ignored Seth's rambling choosing instead to lazily trace the patterns on my desk. He paused for a moment before grasping my hands in his. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I should've told you myself." He got down on his knees so that his head could easily rest on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

He was sounding desperate and I wanted to be mad at him just the same way he wanted me to _not_ be mad. Groaning in frustration, I threw my hands in the air. "You're forgiven damn it." He smiled lazily placing a quick kiss on my cheek. "What do you want?"

Seth ignored my question deciding to lie on my bed burying his face into my pillow. I allowed my eyes to roam up and down his muscular body taking in his lack of shirt and basketball shorts that he wore. His shoes had been kicked off and were lying next to my bed standing out among the various feminine items that were around them.

"I came to visit you." he rolled over so that he was facing me. "I can't visit you anymore? Or do you always greet me with that attitude?" I grunted in response choosing instead to join him on the bed keeping a good two inches of space in-between our bodies. "You know you're sending me mixed signals."

"How am I sending you mixed signals?"

"You won't ever say whether you like me or don't like me and quite frankly it's driving me insane." I raised an eyebrow opting to stay quiet. "I really like you and it's obvious you really like me, but you seem to want to stay at this safe zone you've established."

"You want me to not be friends with benefits with you?"

"It's not a bad thing don't get me wrong. It's just that I want to go public with this little relationship we've put up. We have our boundaries. We'll act like Bella and Jake being all over each other, but not exactly all over each other like boyfriend and girlfriend…"

"You're not stating the full story Seth."

"It's just… Sam and the rest of his gang aren't really rooting for me and you to be a couple. Jake really likes you and Sam thinks Jake deserves to be with you more than you deserve to be with anyone else including me."

"So it's because of Sam."

"No, it's because of what Sam and Paul and Jacob and the others would do to me if they found out about us. In fact, I'm positive the only person that wouldn't kill me is my sister Leah. She actually thinks I deserve to be with you more than Jake. She's not exactly Sam's biggest fan."

"I can tell."

"You know you're awfully quiet tonight."

"You're just talking too much."

As usual, Seth had managed to shimmy his way over to me so that our arms were touching without me even noticing that he moved. My heart pounded furiously in my chest and I could feel a slow blush working its way up my body. Of course Seth was amused and decided it would be a good idea to wrap his arm around my waist pulling me into his chest which made my poor little heart almost stop.

Seth's arms were wrapped around me and our legs were tangled together. I couldn't tell where my body ended and where his began. It made me feel dangerously exposed under his wandering gaze. As far as I knew, Seth and I weren't exactly a couple nor were we friends with benefits anymore after his big speech leaving me with one big question:

What were we?

It was obvious we couldn't go out or go public by any means since Sam's gang was a potential threat. We couldn't be 100% private especially after how… attached we'd gotten. Our safest bet was to act like we were another Bella and Jake situation. He of course would have to play the role of the beloved pale-faced Bella while I had to be the heart broken Jacob.

I wasn't entirely sure if this left the floor open for us to date. It would be awkward to be in a serious relationship with a guy if Seth and I continued to meet like this, but I couldn't possibly fathom the idea of Seth suddenly not meeting me anywhere. Was it possible that in two quick days you could become awkwardly and desperately attached to someone? Maybe for Aaron and Jared, but for Seth and me… no, it had to be impossible. Utterly and completely impossible.

_Stumbling around in the woods wasn't the best way to start the day. That much was obvious; I was searching through the groups of hikers passing by. I couldn't remember who I was looking for, or why I was looking for them. It was important. But why was it so important? I didn't even know where I was, yet I was walking around in the woods like a damn lumberjack._

_Eventually I gave up on searching and grew content with resting against a large tree. When people would walk by, I would lift my head searching for that missing face before staring at the dirt. I sat there for a while before a laugh caused me to slowly raise my head. Seth was standing in front of me wearing a white button up shirt and khaki pants standing out in the crowd of hikers dressed up as tourists going to Hawaii and not Forks, Washington. I blushed madly choosing the moment to quickly glance at his feet shocked when he had no shoes on._

"_Are you looking for me?" Seth asked. I didn't answer thinking it would be easier to just bury my head in my hands. The sundress I had on was caked in dirt and my bare feet dug into the ground leaving imprints of my feet. "I got lost. There's a lot of people here." I felt a warm pair of arms pick me up, so they were carrying me bridal style. "It's OK though. We're going to the beach and we'll eat marshmallows."_

"_Really," I asked peeking out from my fingers. Seth was surprisingly holding a large pack of marshmallows with that triumphant smile on his face. "You got my favorite snack in the whole wide world Seth!"_

"_I know," He carried me further and further into the woods away from the curious eyes of the hikers. "I'm your best friend. It's what I do."_

_We walked on for a long time just eating marshmallows and trying to find the beach. Eventually we ended up where we started and I gave up deciding to sit in my previous spot and to watch the hikers walk by. This time Seth was snuggled in by my side with his eyes closed already falling asleep. I wanted to shove his heavy behind off of me, but I didn't have the heart to. How many times had I fell asleep practically in his lap?_

_I groaned in frustration wrapping my small arms around his large body. Why were all my choices so hard? Seth sighed contently wrapping his arms around my waist just as Jacob walked out of the woods with Paul Meraz and Jared Cole. His usual posse which consisted of Quil Ateara and Embry Call was gone wisely being replaced with much bigger and stronger guys from Sam's gang. Jacob glared at Seth angrily sending Paul to rip Seth out of my arms._

"_What about Bella?" I countered just as Paul reached out for Seth's unconscious form. Jacob froze at the name of his best friend and I smiled glad I hit a sore spot. "It's OK when it's you and Bella, but now when it's me and Seth?"_

I opened my eyes not too surprised to see Seth sprawled out on my bed wide awake in my room. My eyes were foggy as I focused on his face. I thought he would leave, but a part of me assumed he would stay after ditching me those last two days.

Rolling over I squinted hard enough just to make out the numbers on my alarm clock. Three o'clock in the afternoon on a Monday. Just perfect, I had slept through the whole day and I was positive Aaron and Catalina would be stopping by in about two hours for us to go to the beach. My mind barely focused on going to the beach before another part of my mind shoved that thought to the side and decided to replace it with the thought that Seth was less than an inch away from me in my bed and we were home alone…

I shifted so I was once again facing him with my infamous what-the-hell frown on my face. Seth smiled at me before quickly deciding I was serious and replacing his overjoyed face with his apology face. I'm not sure I could handle another apology. His apologies were always awkwardly long and filled with hugs, kisses, and a puppy dog pout that could've convinced Cruella De'vil not to murder the poor Dalmatians.

"What are we, Seth?" I asked. He glanced up at the ceiling his eyes focusing on the attic door. He stared at the attic door for a while longer before turning his attention back to me.

"I thought we were going to be a couple." He sounded unsure and it caused me to raise an eyebrow. "Of course it'd be a secret couple thing since I don't want Sam's gang interfering with anything that happens to go on involving us." I nodded my head. "What did you think we were?"

"How about breakfast," I countered. I didn't want to have to answer that question. Due to the fact that food was Seth's favorite topic, he quickly and gracefully leapt out the bed and dashed down the stairs.

"Can we make French toast?"

* * *

The next few days were filled with Seth and short visits from Jacob. My dreams were often plagued with Seth and a quick flash of Jacob as he watched us from the shadows. I was positive that although Jacob Black was watching me and Seth in my dreams he had no idea what we were doing in the real world. Of course, he had once almost walked in on me and Seth in a very heated position (Seth had pinned me down on the sofa) after my mom graced Jacob with the liberty of bursting into the house whenever he wanted bringing whomever he wanted. Seth had to quickly jump off of me and position himself on the opposite end of the tanned sofa as he casually flicked through the stations on the TV.

Jacob was a recurring dream that could be sometimes referred to as a beautiful nightmare (quote from Sweet Dreams by Beyoncé). When, Seth wasn't there to brighten my day Jacob was. When Seth couldn't make it to our annual movie nights, Jacob was there. Jacob was like my Seth-substitute. I felt oddly awkward and closed off whenever I ended one of Jacob's visits. It made me feel dirty almost as if I was using him because of how I felt about Seth.

On more than one occasion, Jacob had placed us in more-than-friends situations, and of course Seth would show up the next day closed off because no doubt Jacob had told him about our run-ins. These moments would leave me feeling confused and alone. However, it was in these moments when my two best friends, Aaron and Catalina, would swoop in and momentarily make me forget about Seth and Jacob.

Aaron was getting closer and closer with Jared and they had been going on more dates now that summer would be ending in a short two weeks. Catalina had grown closer to Brady Michaels and Colin Andrews giving them an opening to our little close-knit friend group. I was perfectly fine with it thinking our group was going to expand until we all were like family, but like all great summers it came to an end and school started with a vengeance.

The first week was hell. Seth and I were loaded with homework and our Elder project and our times spent together were short study sessions that sometimes included Catalina and Aaron dropping in to work on our project. After a few days our projects impending due date sent us all into a frenzy and we were left to hurriedly run a rough draft of our presentation before setting to work on our final copy.

I stumbled down the hall wearing only a pair of skinny jeans, hi-tops, and an overly big Tee since I was too lazy to fully think through my outfit. Seth gave me a quick head nod from across the hall that didn't go unnoticed by Jacob Black and whoever else was with Seth that was in Sam's gang.

"Girl, you look so dead." Catalina's voice caused me to jump dropping nearly half of books in the process. "What were you doing late?"

"You know she was getting a piece of that Jacob man candy that's been following her around." Aaron butted in. Catalina laughed, but I stayed quiet. Hearing his name made me think of a group of Jacob induced fantasies that would closely be followed by a thought of Seth which would lead to a feeling of guilt. "Tell me, how long did it last? Was it a quick hit or something that took all night." I ignored Aaron as she jumped into the song no bullshit by Chris Brown with Catalina hitting the background.

"I didn't even see Jacob last night."

Truth to be told it wasn't Jacob I saw… it was Seth. We were up until three in the morning talking until we both passed out. I woke up to find a note in messy handwriting apologizing for just going AWOL, but he had to leave before my mother walked in on us.

"I was up late studying for our test in English." I sighed as Catalina nodded her head in understanding. Aaron gave me a look of disbelief, but allowed the excuse to fly.

I bit my lip as Jacob walked by with Seth before giving me a quick wink. Why was everything so damn complicated?


	3. Chocolate Kisses

**Book One: Alex**

**Chocolate Kisses**

I sighed as Jacob ran by me and Seth tossing a football to Embry who stood further down the beach. Quil had managed to run up behind Embry quickly tackling him to the ground just as Paul ran up to the two. Seth seemed to be itching to join the small wrestling match but was refusing to leave my side. It was obvious that Jacob was trying to impress me while Seth was trying to get as close to me as possible. Or at least I thought it was obvious.

About two feet away, Aaron and Jared were holding hands and facing each other. Their faces were only an inch apart and they were whispering about meaningless things with those highly-in-love smiles on their faces. I looked away just as Jared peppered Aaron's face with kisses.

The school was holding a fundraiser further up the beach inviting Forks and La Push down to the beach, but Sam's gang, Brady and Collin, and my group of friends ditched the event to chill away from the crowd of little kids running through the water with their parents. Catalina had snuck up to the fundraiser with Brady promising to come back with a cooler filled with juice and water for us.

I blinked slowly before resting my head on Seth's shoulder feeling slightly comforted when his arm wrapped around my waist. If Jacob had been playing football closer to us, he would've seen Seth's arm and probably smack the smile straight off his face. Shifting closer to Seth I glanced over at Jacob not too surprised to see him arm wrestling on the sand while Paul reported everything that happened to Embry.

"We've hit the jackpot." I glanced over at where the noise was coming from shocked to see Catalina and Brady dashing down the beach carrying a tray of hotdogs wrapped in aluminum foil and a cooler. "We got soda, juice, water, and hotdogs." She whipped out the various food items erupting a cheer from the boy as they all abandoned their various tasks to get some of the food.

"Get me a hotdog," I called out to Seth as he moved over to pile of food managing to fight off Quil and snatch up five hotdogs with at least twenty packs ketchup.

I warily eyed his pile of food as he passed me a hotdog before devouring one of his four hotdogs. He quickly ate all of them looking at me with shock when I was only half finished with my first hotdog. "Damn girl, you eat so slowly!" he cried snatching the rest of my hotdog out my hands before eating that one as well.

"Gee thanks, Seth," I grumbled as he smirked triumphantly. A few bits of crumbs were placed on his face and I giggled before brushing off the crumbs receiving a quick thanks.

"Seth," Jared voice cut us out of our small staring contest and when we both decided to look at him he had a look of confusion, disgust, and shame. "What the hell do you think you're doing with Jake's girl?" I frowned at the title they had given me. It made me sound like a piece of property Jake owned and quite frankly I was convinced that I would kill someone if they called me that again.

"I don't know what you mean." Seth's face had gone back to that blank stare he always did when he was cutting off his emotions. His eyes were unfocused and his lips were set into a thin line.

"You need to stop before Sam or Jacob decides to stop you." His voice held a hint of a threat and I swallowed nervously.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Seth, stop playing dumb."

"Jared, leave them alone." Aaron's voice shocked me. For a moment, I forgot that she was sitting next to Jared the whole time. "They're best friends. It's not any different from Jacob and that pale-face Bella." I smiled glad that Aaron decided to stick up for me.

"Next thing you know I'll wipe crumbs off your face and Jared's gonna threaten me of stealing you from him." I decided to quickly throw in my two cents laughing when Aaron smiled.

"I'm going back to my house; are you in?" I asked Aaron not too surprised when she nodded her head. "We can have a movie night. My mom's working at the hospital late tonight. Brady and Catalina are stopping by later too…" I glanced over at Jared cautiously. "Jared can come too."

"What no Jacob," Aaron taunted. She made kissy faces and I blushed nervously playing with the hem on my shirt. "Oh Jacob," she did an obnoxiously high falsetto voice as she attempted to mimic my voice, "won't please come over my house so we can make out during the whole movie. I'm so fucking in love with you, please take me now!"

"Oh of course Alex," Jared joined in doing a bad attempt at Jacob's voice, "I will." He suddenly leapt on Aaron pinning her down as he kissed her face everywhere before gently resting his lips against hers. "I love you Aaron." She giggled as Jared kissed her neck before getting up and gently pulling her to her feet.

* * *

Two days. That was the time it took for the school committee to decide to hold a Sweetheart's dance and encourage everyone to go and buy tickets for a raffle that would no doubt be donated to the school. Once again my mom was forcing me to go, but this time she was willing to ship me to the dance with Jacob on my arm which would require us to dance to multiple slow songs.

Oh sweet Jesus!

"Hey," I blushed nervously in my yellow sundress causing him to grin. "You look nice." I once again blushed feeling his muscular arm wrap around my waist.

"You don't look so bad yourself." I replied taking in his casual white button up shirt with khaki pants. He looked just like how Seth did in my dreams and I quickly threw that heart out my head before it got me in some serious trouble. "You look nice all dressed up."

"Oh wait I got something for you," he quickly dug in pants pockets before pulling out a pack of Hershey's Kisses. "Seth mentioned something about you loving Hershey's and marshmallows and my dad has strict no marshmallows rule." I smiled as he dumped a few of the foil wrapped drops of chocolate in my head.

"Thanks," I smiled up at him before quickly looking back at the gym floor. Aaron was seen in the corner holding hands with Jared as they gently rocked back and forth. They were too wrapped in each other to notice anything going on. Seth was dancing with Jamie Cole whose black hair was dyed a bright red. Catalina was running around the room with Brady focusing on dousing drops of water on kids who weren't paying attention.

Jacob grabbed my hand before placing his large hands on my waist smiling successfully when I wrapped my arms around his neck. When we had our moments like this, I could easily picture us as more than best friends. I could picture us doing this on the regular basis; we'd be like Sam and Emily or Jared and Aaron. I could picture us holding hands, seeing movies, kissing, hugging, the whole package.

I rested my head on his chest feeling my heart speed up. Hands fit perfectly on my hips and our hearts seemed to beat at the same rhythm. I closed my eyes. It was a perfect moment.

"I wish that I could have this moment for life," he whispered. I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips. "It would perfect. I got you just here in my arms, our friends are having a good time, and everyone's having fun."

"But even the best things end." He smiled down at me and I gently rose up on my toes before placing a quick kiss on his lips. His hands tightened around my waist as he pulled me into his chest. My hands were entwined in his hair pulling him closer. I felt like every inch of our bodies were touching and it was… exhilarating. Momentarily I felt on high. Almost like a junkie getting a hit, but I felt -no sensed- Seth staring at us and my moment of high crashed down around me.

Oh shit.

What had I done?

I pulled away from Jacob allowing our eyes to meet. "Wow," he muttered with a ghost of smile on his perfect face. Whoa… did I just call him perfect? Me calling Jacob Black perfect, something was seriously wrong with this picture. I mean sure he was really hot and tall and muscular and… damn.

"I need to go to the bathroom and… think." He barely mumbled a coherent thought before I rushed out of the gym and stumbled down the long hallway. The air felt too cold after being wrapped in Jacob's arms and I gasped loudly.

I barely managed to make it to the bathroom in one piece before taking in uneven breaths. Had that really happened? I touched my lips shocked when they were still warm from feeling Jacob's much warmer ones pressed against them. A sob came from the corner of the bathroom causing me to jump in fright.

A balled up figure sat in the corner of the bathroom squished up in-between a sink the wall. I blinked squinting at the huddled mass. It looked like at one point it could've been a beautiful princess, but for some unexplainable reason it looked more like an ugly step sister. Her hair that was once pinned up fell around her face in tangles, her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her makeup ran down her face leaving blurred smudges of black on her cheeks. I blinked dumbly unable to say anything before I realized who this broken figure was.

"Aaron," she mumbled a response that got lost in another sob. "Oh shit!" I crawled over to her holding open my arms for her to curl into. "What happened to you?"

"J-Jared," she managed to spit out.

My mind was at a lost. Even now curled up on the ground of the ladies rest room during a charity dance she manages to call out her boyfriend's name. Why did this make sense?

"He was all normal, but he just looked at her and he jut changed. I d-don't know what h-happened. He c-couldn't even look at me anymore, A-Alex. My own boyfriend couldn't look at me; he was t-too busy staring at that girl who spent her whole l-life following h-him around." She let another sob. "He ignored me and just went over to h-her. at first I thought it was nothing, they have like the same English class and all. Then he spent at least half the dance with her talking and laughing and doing all that stuff he does with me!"

"Oh sweetie."

"Then they slow danced to every song. Every damn song. You know the worst part about it." I stared at her unable to say anything. "He stood there looking at her like she was his everything. He even gave her the damn candy he was supposed to give me. Everything I thought we had evaporated in one look at some damned stalker."

"Who did he leave you for?"

"Kim..." She let out another loud sob allowing more of her makeup run down her cheeks.

"I'm going to get Catalina."

I walked hurredly down the hallway bursting in the gymnasium. My kiss with Jacob had been momentarily forgotten and I found myself pushing my way through the crowd of dancers to see Catalina in the corner with Jared silently yelling at him. Deciding it would be better to get Catalina to Aaron instead of watching her fight Jared I quickly made my over.

"You jackass," I cringed at the line of curse words she shot at Jared. "You fucking ditched your girlfriend for some girl you haven't even talked to?"

"Shutup," Jared hissed. He was shaking and his form was starting to look blurry. "You don't know shit about Kim or about me and Aaron. What if we were already going to break up? Aaron and I are over. We're done and she'll understand that."

"You bitch," I cried throwing in my own two cents. "She's half dead on the bathroom floor because of you and you think it'll be OK." I frowned as Paul ran up dragging Jared away from us. "You fucking wuss." A few dancers stopped to stare at us for a moment before walking away.

I grabbed Catalina's hand dragging us back to the girls' bathroom. By the time we got there, Aaron had migrated to the middle of the floor and immediately we dropped down next to her whispering soothing things in her ear. I frowned at Aaron's broken form thinking of the various ways to murder Jared Cole before Aaron looked up at me and spoke:

"Can I get a kiss?"

Smiling I handed her a Hershey's Kiss and she smiled back before dropping the piece of chocolate in her mouth. I knew together the three of us would get our revenge. We would make Jared Cole wish he never messed with us.


	4. Hurt and Betrayal

**Book One: Alex**

**Hurt and Betrayal**

For the next few days Aaron went through a series of emotions. Hurt, anger, sadness, emptiness, but she stopped at hate. I could understand why she would hate Jared Cole. They spent most of their lives together always leaning on each other and suddenly he ditches her for a girl he used to make fun of. Catalina's emotions seemed to be stuck on anger plotting out various ways to get back at him. I was simply confused. How do I handle a breakup this big? They'd been together since Third Grade. Not to mention, I had the feeling that someone had ratted out Seth and I's relationship.

Whenever we would be at the beach or at the mall, one of Sam's followers would be there. They'd follow us around waiting for one of us to screw up. But we were careful. We made sure not to make too much contact instead having a private conversation with our eyes using body language instead like a quick smile or a head nod. It wasn't enough; it wasn't… real.

Some days Jacob would come with us, and I would be hanging off Jacob's arm responding to that deep pull I felt. Being with him was natural. I didn't have to be guarded with what I say or did like I'd have to be with Seth when Sam's followers would be stalking us. It was easy… as simple as breathing.

* * *

Catalina walked up to me anger building in her eyes as she stormed past me and Aaron. We quickly spun around to watch her descent on Sam's group. Typically, we had unknowingly gotten ourselves attached to yet another member of Sam's gang and now Catalina was going to speak her mind… hopefully…

Brady Michaels shoved his hands in his pockets casually as Catalina walked up to him. Paul half-heartedly watched his sister drag Brady away. Catalina screamed something that sounded like half Spanish and half English at Brady while throwing in a few colorful words before storming back towards us and dragging us into the building. Aaron and I had wisely chose to stay quiet during the whole ordeal not wanting to anger Catalina further.

"Can you believe that faggot?" Catalina huffed stomping up and down the girls' bathroom. "He goes and decides to ditch us to hang out with a bunch of half naked guys." She rolled her eyes quickly reapplying her lipgloss. "'It's only until I get better with my anger' he says. 'Don't worry about me,' he says!"

"That's Sam's gang for you." Aaron rolled her eyes before facing me. "You always be careful with what they do." I nodded accepting her warning gratefully before stuffing my hands in my pockets. "Sometimes they sneak up on you and try to drag you down."

"Sometimes they succeed." Catalina added.

I cautiously eyed the two girls before muttering a quick excuse and hastily rushing out of the bathroom. Clearly they were having bad Juju-Vibes and that was something I did not need. What I needed was to relax and be calm. After all, today was the day that Seth and I had an impromptu date at the beach.

My mood was on high for the rest of the day pondering several outfits to wear. Seth was big on me wearing blues or purples because they frame my figure nicely but who was I to judge? I had forced him into wearing clothes that possibly made him look gay just to watch him prance around the place looking like some sex god.

It wasn't until the end of the day when Seth offered to "drive me home" that my mood went down. I couldn't help but feel like something big was about to happen. Seth told me to relax rubbing his thumb in soothing circles across the back of my hand. When I thought he wasn't looking, I quickly snuck another look behind us relaxed when nothing was there.

"Happy now that you know the mafia isn't after us." Seth mumbled sarcastically. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his comment. "Or maybe killer dogs are hunting us down with magical fairies leading them towards my car."

"No," I stated keeping my eyes trained on the stretch of road in front of us. "I'm much more positive werewolves are following us."

Seth eyed me for a moment. "Are you sure it's not a pack of hungry bloodsuckers?"

"No, werewolves are better," I paused for a moment at Seth's shocked face, "they're safer too." he nodded his head in agreement and I gently rested my head on his shoulders.

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence until we reached the beach were we walked in the sand hand in hand. I was pressed up securely against his side gently humming to an unknown tune. Seth's eyes were focused on the water while mine were more intent on staring at the various rocks and shells that were scattered around the beach.

Eventually we ended up sitting in the sand with me in-between his legs wrapped in the small bubble of his too hot body temperature. It wasn't long before his lips were trailing up my neck, chin, cheek, and back down to my neck. I could barely breathe instead I was taking in short ragged gasps of air. Somehow, I managed to spin around planting my lips firmly against his smiling in victory when he responded equally enthusiastic.

He gently laid us down on the sand so his body was on top of mine. His lips were moving roughly against my own our tongues dancing to a different rhythm. I felt my fingers tightly grasp his shoulders pulling him down further on top of my body. Every inch of our bodies were touching but I wanted more, I was craving more.

"What the hell?" Seth instinctively leapt off of me running his fingers through his disheveled hair glancing sheepishly at whoever caught us. "I swear to God if Jacob finds out." Jared's face made me frown ruining my little moment of Seth induced haze. Kim stepped from behind Jared shocked when she saw me sprawled out next to Seth.

My moment… officially gone.

"Isn't that Jacob's imprint?" Kim-the-stalker asked shyly. I glanced up from my glaring contest with the sand only to see her pointing at me with that sly You-Done-It-Now look. "Seth, what are you doing with her? Jacob is going to kill you." She gasped when Seth shrugged it off giving me a quick wink. "You can't just steal people's imprint! You'll ruin his life if he finds out!"

"This is coming from the same girl who stole my best friend's boyfriend?" Kim-the-stalker immediately shut up allowing Jared to step in front of her protectively. "Yeah, so shut the fuck up you man stealing-"

"Control her, Seth." Jared growled easily lifting Seth off the ground by his shirt collar. "Listen to me and listen to me good." I cringed at the tone of Jared's voice shocked when Seth seemed unfazed by it. "I won't tell Jacob about this, but if God forbids he finds out I will punch you into next year." Jared dropped Seth onto the ground before grabbing Kim's hand and leading her away from the two of us. I guess it wouldn't be good for her image in Sam's gang if she was seen with two people going behind one of the leader's back.

We sat in silence for a while both of us glaring at the spot where Jared and Kim-the-stalker disappeared before Seth helped me up and took me home.

I spent many moments in my room rethinking the events through my head when I realized I had no idea what the hell an imprint was. Surely, Kim-the-stalker had mentioned something about it as reference to a sort of relationship tie between Jacob and I, but that was it. She used it like a normal person would use the word boyfriend or girlfriend. Was imprint the pack's way of signaling I was in some way dating Jacob? If so, why couldn't they just acknowledge our relationship like a normal person?

Nervously pacing back in forth in my room was doing me no good so as usual I decided to lie down on my bed to think things through. That also got me nowhere. But the constant nagging at the back of my head that when I ignored the little imprint comment I had somehow missed something big in that argument; something that only Sam's gang would know.

I needed to find out what imprinting was.

The next day I anxiously sat through all my classes before making a mad dash to the parking lot just in time to catch Seth throwing his backpack in his car. I briefly weighed the pros and cons of asking Seth about this… dilemma before holding my head high and casually strolling over to him.

"Hey," Seth gave me a brief nod in response and I shifted uneasily from foot to foot. "So yesterday when we were at the beach Kim-the-stalker and Jared mentioned something pretty weird."

"Wait," he turned to face me with a look of amusement on his face. "Kim-the-stalker… Wow that is so intelligent."

"Anyways," ignoring the snide comment, "they mentioned something called an imprint. Apparently I'm Jacob's imprint or whatever, and it's really wrong for an imprint to go and try to hookup with someone else in the gang or whatever."I rushed my words together hoping for some vague miracle where Seth wouldn't hear what I said and I could quickly back out my interrogation.

Seth's body tensed and whatever hope of him not hearing me flew out the window. "You should wait and let Jacob explain that to you." Seth muttered. His voice was low and detached giving me the chills. "It's not my place to tell you."

And that my dear readers is how I was left standing in the middle of the parking lot hurt, confused, and really pissed with Seth Clearwater and Sam's gang.


	5. Shattered

**Book One: Alex**

**Shattered**

I lay across the bed my arm resting across my stomach my legs dangling off the other end because of how I was resting. My attention was focused on my desk trying to keep my mind focused on something other than this imprinting problem. It was quite a hard task figuring every time my attention wavered it snapped back to Sam's gang and their puzzling mysteries. I knew I should be able to remember what it was… I had heard it before…

Groaning I grabbed my head. This was too hard to sort through. My mind wasn't able to fully grasp this concept. It was… complicated. How could something I was positive I had heard before become so complicated? It had to be something that was recent, but new. Something different yet familiar.

Another groan escaped my lips. I couldn't do this anymore. It was puzzling, mind boggling, and such a horrid thing to try to solve. It was worse than a jigsaw puzzle.

"Alex," I grunted out a reply to my mom's timid voice sounding from the opposite side of my bedroom door. "I'm leaving to go over to the Clearwater's house, but I want you to call me if you need anything." She waited a moment before leaving when it became clear I wasn't going to reply.

I'm not sure how much longer I sat there before I forced myself into a sitting position. My pink sheets fell into a ball at my feet forcing me to the ground when I attempted to stand. I struggled with the persistent ball of cotton before managing to detangle my feet.

In another few clumsy steps, I was stumbling down the hall and into the kitchen. My mind was whirring around the concept of imprinting. What was it? Why was it familiar?

* * *

I blinked up at Jacob through my long eyelashes not too surprised to see his dark brown eyes focused on me. A blush worked its way through my face momentarily staining my light brown skin as I quickly turned away. How could I focus with him beside me?

"Jake," I kept my voice soft not bothering to look up at Jacob. "Seth might've mentioned something when he was talking to Jared, and I was just wondering what it was." Jacob had turned to face me his hand tracing patterns on the wooden table. "I think it was called an imprint." His hand stopped moving and I managed to pull my eyebrows together for a look of confusion when I grew the guts to look him in the eyes.

Jake's gaze was gentle and warm despite his rigid posture, and I could feel my face subconsciously relax to mirror his look. "You don't have to pretend like you can't remember it just so I'll tell you," Jacob murmured. "If you wanted to know, you could've just asked."

We sat there silently waiting for the other person to say something. It had to have been five minutes before Jacob broke the silence:

"I don't think you're ready to hear it yet." I raised an eyebrow shocked at his dismissive nature towards my question. He took a long look at my shocked face before he twisted his body so he was facing forward.

"Why not?" I hissed back angrily. "I don't understand why I can't know what an imprint is." Jacob raised an eyebrow giving me a look of concern. "What is with you? Why can't you just tell me?" I knew I was probably overacting but the probability that this was something big –no something huge- was constantly pushing me over the edge.

"Calm down," Jacob's arms were around me in seconds pulling me into his warm body. "You need to calm down. I'm not telling for your own good."

I pushed myself away from him frowning. "Fuck you." I hissed. "Fuck you and your _cult_ and Sam for making all these stupid rules about what you can and cannot do. Fuck you for not being able to stand up for yourself."

Jacob stared at me with a pained expression on his face. He moved towards me and I backed away until I was pressed up against my kitchen wall. "You don't mean that." His voice was small, far away. "You can't mean it."

"But I do," my fingers gripped a glass plate that was resting on the shelf next to the sink. "I really do." Jacob tried to take another step towards me and I threw the plate at him. He quickly ducked the plate crashing against the wall. "Don't come near me."

"Do you want to hear it?" Jacob's voice was calm too calm for a situation like this. "Do you want to know the one secret that you're being so dramatic over?" I stayed quiet letting him continue. "Well, do you want to hear it?"

"What do you think?" I screamed back.

Jacob sneered, his eyes empty and dull. "I'm a fucking werewolf." I glared at him and he placed his hands in his pockets smiling at my look of disbelief. "Sam's gang is a pack of werewolves. We fight vampires for a living and save your ungrateful ass day after day. We patrol around the woods. We have a treaty with vampires that live in Forks. I was in love with a girl who loved the vampires. There's a deadly vampire on the loose that I'm protecting you from-"

"You liar!"

"-We do this thing called imprinting where we see our soul mate. It's like love at first site. We fall in love.-"

"Shut up you liar, you're lying!"

"-Kim is Jared's imprint, Emily is Sam's, Claire is Quil's, and you're mine-"

"Jacob you liar!"

"-I knew you weren't ready." He stared at me and I wrapped my arms around myself desperately. "You can't handle it."

"You asshole," tears started to fall down my cheeks and Jacob's façade briefly wavered. "You said you loved me! You said you would never lie, yet you're feeding me bullshit about being a werewolf!" I sobbed loudly as Jacob took a hesitant step towards me. "I hate you. I hate you, Jacob Black, and I hope you die."

Jacob stopped moving his eyes fading in and out of focus as he stared at my shaking form. His eyes were full of sadness and remorse. His hands were clenched into tight fists shaking slightly.

"I didn't mean it." He stepped towards me and I closed my eyes. "Please, I didn't mean it." There was a long pause filled with an awkard silence before I heard the sound of heavy footsteps and the sound of a door slamming shut. When I opened my eyes, Jacob was gone.

* * *

I sat in that red chair that night. I sat in that chair until three in the morning with a glass of wine from my mom's wine stash in my hand. My legs were crossed and I was staring at the door unmoving. I sniffed taking a sip of the wine letting a moan escape my lips.

The door gently swung open and a tall male figure tiptoed into the room gently closing the door.

"Hello Seth," he jumped quickly spinning around to face me. "What took you so long?" He stared at my lack of clothing (I wore only an oversized T-shirt) and then to the wine glass before settling his gaze at my face. "Are you just going to stand there?" I took another sip of the wine.

"Are you OK?" his voice was dripping with concern and I rolled my eyes. His muscular shoulders rolled back as he stretched. "You're not drunk, are you?"

"Just a little boozed up," I sniffed. "He told me about an imprint." Seth's stance became rigid as he stared at the wine glass. "He told me about how you guys are 'wolves' and you fight 'vampires' and all this other load of crap."

Seth lunged at me quickly snatching the wine glass out of my hand. The slight pressure to the chair was enough to send it flying backwards and I managed to grasp onto Seth's shirt tight enough to pull him down with me. I ended up next to the toppled over chair with Seth on top of me with only his hands supporting his weight. Sneakily, I wrapped my arm around his neck pulling him closer to me.

"You're drunk." Seth whispered. He tried to pull away but I lowered back down to me gently placing my lips against his. "We shouldn't do this when you're drunk." I smiled moving my head so I placing a trail of kisses up and down his neck.

He moved his hands so he was gripping onto my hips. "But you want to. You want to really bad." He bit his lip to shove down a moan as I grinded my hips into his. "Let loose for once Seth." My lips were exploring against his skin touching everywhere for a few seconds but never lingering for too long.

Seth placed me on the sofa guiding my body so I was on top of him. I allowed my hands to roam his chest moving my body to allow as much contact as possible. I kissed his lips lingering there for a while before pulling back. He kept his hands on my hips as I sat up.

"You shouldn't love me." he whispered. "You shouldn't like me. You shouldn't even be here."

"You shouldn't love me." I replied. "You shouldn't be here."

"It sucks because I do love you, and I've always loved you."

"I understand. I feel the same way."

The next day when I woke up, Seth's arms was wrapped around me and we were in my bed. The memory of last night replayed in my head over and over again. I leaned into him clutching onto the fabric of his shirt like it was a lifeline. A sob was threatening to work its way out of my throat at the thought of the fight Jacob and I had.

I curled into Seth's side burying my face in his chest.

Breathe. In out. In out. Forget about Jacob. He made his choice when he was feeding you all that crap about being a wolf. Yes. He doesn't matter. You have Seth. You have Aaron. You have Catalina. You don't need Jacob.

No matter what I told myself the constant battle over my heart was being played by Jacob and Seth. I had always thought that Jacob would always have the upper hand, but after being with Seth I found myself stuck in the middle. I could see myself falling in love with Seth being with him forever. It would be perfect.

"Good morning, Sunshine," Seth's voice made me sit up and grab his hands. "What are you doing today?" I smiled at him and bent down to kiss him on the lips. We stayed like that –hands linked, lips touching, bodies pressed against each other- for a while.

Yeah… Seth and I could be happy… we could be together... We could be perfect...


	6. Confusion

**Before I start, I would like to apologize for the wait. There is nothing to blame but my laziness and lack of energy. Sorry it is so short, but the next chapter should be up sometime this week since I am on Spring Break.**

**~B**

* * *

**Book One: Alex**

**Confusion**

I rolled over allowing a smile to form on my lips as Seth picked me up casually tossing me over his shoulder. I screamed playfully while Aaron videotaped my awkward position from her spot on my front steps. Seth was carrying me around my lawn while Catalina chased us with a hose and of course Aaron was documenting the whole thing. It was times like this when things like Sam's gang was a problem we never faced nor thought of. Just like when we were younger.

"Oh my gosh," I squealed loudly as water smacked me in the back earning a laugh from Catalina. "The water is effing cold!" I jumped up and down from foot to foot trying to shake whatever water was left on me off. "It's November why was that OK?"

"Calm down," Seth squeezed my hand reassuringly. "I'll get you a towel." I managed to nod my head quickly enough to encourage him to dash into the house.

"So," Catalina's voice caused me to jump. Her black wavy hair was tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head with pieces occasionally falling out to frame her heart shaped face. Normally it would give her the appearance of an angel, but today she looked more like an angry fairy. "You and Seth, huh?" I shifted awkwardly as she relished in my nervousness.

"We're just friends if that's what you're asking." My reply was short and quick, and it only increased her curiosity. "Is it wrong to be friends with Seth?"

"Not unless you're lusting after him." Aaron's voice taunted me from across the lawn and I sent her a quick glare grateful that Catalina's attention was focused solely on me.

We had a quick showdown of wits before Catalina turned towards the house. "Just don't tell Jacob about your lust with Seth." I felt my jaw drop open as Catalina cut across my lawn, grabb Aaron's hand, and pull her into my house. Surely she knew Jacob and I weren't talking, but if she did know then why was she mentioning Seth. Did Aaron tell her about my infatuation?

Calm down. Calm down. Calm down.

The thought alone was simple enough. Just relax your body and be calm. It was doing the action that was hard. Every time I was close to relaxing Catalina's words would play in my head and I was left fidgeting uncomfortably on our sofa while trying to watch _House_ reruns. How could I relax when Catalina was flaunting my love/lust over Seth around? It was like she took a pleasure in watching me squirm with anxiety. It was times like this when I questioned whose side she was on.

A few doctors ran across the screen screaming about some emergency while they wheeled a crocodile in on a stretcher with three bloody people following. My attention briefly wavered before I thought of Catalina's look of triumph when I had quickly defended my "friendship" with Seth that had been practically non-existent a few months ago.

I groaned throwing my hands in front of my face. Why couldn't I face this issue like a man (or woman)? Why was it I couldn't make Seth and me a public thing and just go with it? Was I _scared_ of Jacob of Sam's gang? Or was I scared of what my friends would say? It wasn't like they had the most pleasant run-ins with Sam's gang.

The thought of Jacob and the rest of Sam's gang taking turns pummeling Seth's face while Kim watched and Leah tried to hold as many off as she could was enough to make my stomach churn. Would that happen if we continued our behind-the-scenes affair? It wasn't like I belonged to Jacob or like Jacob and I was an item anymore. Anything going on between Seth and I was our business and our business only.

But Sam's gang loves to get in on other people's business, don't they?

I shifted uneasily at the sudden thought I had. They wouldn't take it that far would they. I pictured Jacob's angry face as he stared down Seth with all the other gang members backing him up and I realized that they would and they would have no regret about it.

I gripped my stomach swaying slightly. This was too much.

* * *

By the time I woke up, I was laying on my sofa with my arms wrapped around myself. The house was deadly quiet and my eyes wandered over to the red chair. It stood peacefully across from my seat watching me, no, taunting me.

I could easily call Jacob and beg for his forgiveness asking him to come over and vowing to never mention the imprinting problem. Of course as soon as I had thought of that approach, my stubborn attitude had kicked in preventing me from even glancing at the phone. If he missed me as much as I missed him, he could call me himself.

* * *

The next few days passed by in a blur which left me at Friday the day Seth had invited me to meet Sam and Emily the root of the problem. It was no secret how the gang had started. Leah –Seth's sister- had been madly in love with Sam to the point where they were going to take a year off of college and travel the world and possibly get married. Then Leah's cousin and best friend, Emily, shows up and Sam falls in love with her and they leave Leah heartbroken and alone to elope and have a cute little family.

I guess you can say I had always admired Leah Clearwater, she was my hero and the older sister I never had, that's why I couldn't help but stand up for her whenever someone tried to talk bull about her to my face. In all reality, it was Sam that ruined her and she was only in his little gang to watch over her brother. I know, talk about getting the rough end of the stick.

The car ride to Emily's house was silent and filled with reassuring glances. Whatever calm serenity that Seth and I had formed immediately broke as soon as I stepped into the house. Emily was cooking muffins while Sam leafed through a paper and the boys watched football with Leah standing at the far end of the room.

This was supposed to be her happily ever after, not Emily's.

I quickly grabbed Seth's hand as my eyes found Jacob's. His presence not only irked me, but it sent a wave of emotions that was smoldering me until I found it impossible to even take a deep breath in. Jared sat next to Kim who kept her eyes fixated on my hand which was tightly gripping Seth's. She held a look of annoyance and a million other emotions that I could link back to her growing hatred for me.

Sam looked up from the paper and glanced over at me sheepishly. His eyes held me under high scrutiny looking for any flaws or any blemish on my skin. The longer he stared at me the more I found my will crumbling away until I was left face-to-face with the sudden feeling of intimidation that he held over me. I could no longer stare into his lifeless eyes and found myself looking at the tan carpet.

"So this is Jacob's girl," his voice echoed around the room, and Jake looked up as if he was proud to have me be acknowledged as belonging to him. Meanwhile, I was somewhat thrilled yet annoyed by this comment. I wasn't someone's property, but the thought of me being Jake's while Jake was mine was a thought that was constantly nagging at the back of my head.

"It's Alex, not Jacob's girl or any other label you think of. My mother named me Alex, and I will be called Alex."

Sam's eyebrows rose, and he leaned forward slightly. His eyes shone with adoration and respect which clearly angered Kim who was not welcomed with such praise (judging by her reaction). He smiled and gave a halfhearted glare towards Jared. "I was not expecting such a strong-willed girl to be visiting us, but if Jacob has an interest in her than that's to be expected, I suppose." Jake smiled and I couldn't help but smile in return.

"She's also stubborn if that helps." Seth announced earning a laugh from Sam. His cold expression washed away replaced by a childlike energy that could rival Seth's and burn out anyone bad aura.

I guess you could say that the rest of the afternoon was spent with me learning how to fit in with the gang. However, despite all the amusing things the guys had said my attention was focused on Leah. Leah used to be my role model. I followed her around, when I wasn't playing with Seth, attempting to become a miniature version of Leah. She treated me like a sister and gave me attention but that was before Sam. I hadn't seen her after the Sam-Emily fiasco.

Her eyes met mine and for the briefest second I saw her cold gaze melt away to give me a look of sisterly love before her expression once again hardened. I swallowed nervously and looked away. Had I imagined that look of caring or was it real? I quickly glanced over at her to see her snorting in disgust at the scene of rowdy guys watching TV before deciding I must have made it up. Leah never smiled anymore.


	7. Choices

***This story was moving a tad bit too slow soooo…. I'm speeding up the pace of things people!**

**[insert line]**

**Book One: Alex**

**Choices**

My mind was in a state of confusion. Seth or Jacob. Jacob or Seth. The two names were constantly running around my thoughts, pushing me closer and closer to mental insanity. My mind insisted Seth was the one for me, yet my heart yearned for Jacob. Of course, it should be obvious who to choose (heart before mind, right), but a good portion of my heart still belonged to Seth. My desire for both of them had grown to a point where if I was caught behind closed doors with one of them… well let's not get into_ that topic_ right now.

How was I going to be able to dedicate myself to one of them when clearly I was torn between them both? Choosing Jacob would break Seth's heart, and choosing Seth would result in breaking Jacob's heart. If I were to choose Seth, we wouldn't be able to go out in public with the small, yet indescribably large, problem of Sam's gang. If I chose Jacob, I would have to deal with the issues of Aaron and Catalina. They always wanted me to end up with Seth.

Seth or Jacob: Seth definitely

Jacob or Seth: Well now that I think about it…

* * *

Seth hovered above me as we lay on my bed. My fingers were tangled in his hair, unwilling to let go, and his hands were tightly gripping my waist. He lowered his face to mine gently placing his lips on my forehead. I closed my eyes allowing myself to get lost in his scent. It was so hard to focus on one complete thought with Seth here.

He kissed me gently and I eagerly responded moving my mouth in sync with his. Our tempo was slow never moving too fast but never lingering too long. My body moved against his both of us trying to get closer. He pulled away for a moment letting his eyes meet mine.

"Seth," my voice was small and timid compared to how loud I usually was. "I need to tell you something important."

"Shhh." Seth kissed me making my head spin. I couldn't focus anymore my whole body was responding to Seth and only Seth. "Tell me later."

I smiled against his lips and his hands gently pulled off my top before quickly moving to my pants. My body reacted to Seth's touch allowing him to remove my clothes as I pressed myself closer to him. In a few moments, we flipped over and I easily slid off his pants before letting my hands roam his body. I lost myself somewhere in those moments and Seth and I merged into one to where I couldn't tell where my legs ended and his started. His body was moving gently never pushing me too far or trying to take off the rest of my clothes but instead focusing on keeping me as close as possible. We had stayed like that for a while before he jerked up almost pushing me off the bed.

I nearly panicked at the expression on his face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open as he stared at my window. I followed squinted at my window as well but was unable to see what was startling him.

"Seth, what's wrong? I don't see anything." I squinted harder failing to see anything outside that could have alerted him.

"I think Jake saw us."

My body froze as he climbed off the bed and quickly through his clothes on. My mind barely comprehended what happened next. I remember Seth quickly kissing me goodbye and dashing out of the room, but anything past that was a blur. Had Jacob actually _seen_ me with Seth?

* * *

After we got caught, I hadn't seen Seth in days which quickly passed into weeks which passed into a couple of months. He hadn't been in school (at least that I could tell) and from what I heard he got whatever classes we had shared changed. I won't lie. I could've predicted the not seeing him part, but it was the part that involved him suddenly going AWOL that bothered me. Even when he switched cliques, I still saw him around.

Finally, three months passed and he began showing up. First, it was a quick glance at the grocery store then a bumping into at a concert and other various places after school. It was when Aaron and I were hanging out at the beach that I saw him again. This time I was able to see him clearly compared to our bump-ins.

He had a fading bruise under his left eye with various slash marks on his face and arms accompanied by a busted lip. The bruises and scars were fading and had probably been there for a while, but the lip and a scar on his eye looked brand new. I could feel my heart ache as I stared at his bruised face.

I had caused that.

I blinked rapidly as he approached me, not even listening to whatever it was Aaron was talking about anymore. His muscular form towered over me and I swallowed nervously.

"Can we talk?" his voice was cold and detached, and it brought back the sudden bittersweet memory of the 4th of July party. It was so long ago that everything had happened. It was that night that had started a snowball effect that led to Seth's beating and bruising.

I was barely able to nod my head with the sudden anxiety that was forming at the pit of my stomach. Seth's posture stiffened and out of the corner of my eye I could make out the forms of Sam's gang standing at the far end of the beach. My heart pounded as he led me away from Aaron and towards the tide pools. Once we were a safe distance he began talking:

"I've missed you so much." Seth's voice was pained, and I instinctively took a step forwards to give him a hug but stopped when he flinched away from my touch. "All of this, and whatever else that's going on between us, needs to stop." I blinked slowly as if I didn't quite understand what he was saying. "I can't do this anymore, Alex."

"Why not?" I whispered. I could feel my heart breaking in a thousand different pieces.

"Alex, I got beat up and almost killed because of our relationship. I couldn't walk for days after what Jacob and Jared did to me. Leah tried to stop them and Jared almost took her out just for standing up for me. Sam had to command her to stop because he enjoyed watching them attack me. He felt I deserved it. He felt it was my fault I ruined Jacob's imprint. Jacob claimed you as his and I-"His voice broke and I felt myself begin to cry.

"We can't do this anymore, baby." I struggled to breathe as I stared into his blank face. He dug into his pocket and handed me a folded up piece of paper. "I want you to go home and read this when you're alone. It'll explain everything, OK." I stared at the piece of paper and nodded. "This'll probably be the last time we'll talk so…"

I didn't let him finish.

I turned around and walked away before he could say anything to break my heart even more. It was hard. It was so hard to walk away from him, but I had to do it. I couldn't stay with him any longer, or I'd beg him not to leave and my stubborn attitude would not allow me to do that.

By the time I got back to Aaron, she was hugging her knees to her chest with tears running down her face as Jared whispered something in her ear. I froze mid-step as her body shook and more tears ran down her face. Jared wiped a tear from her face before standing up and walking back over to Sam who gently patted him on the back as if he deserved a damn medal for making his ex-girlfriend cry. I suddenly realized everything that Sam taught was a plot to ruin those around him. That day when I felt welcomed into his home, I was merely corrupted by his façade. Tainted by his lies. I understood Leah's hatred for this man.

I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her up. I would no longer be hurt by Sam and his group. It was my choice what to do in my life. And if he thought forcing Seth away from me was how he was going to get dominance, he thought wrong.

* * *

_Dear Alex,_

_Corny way to start a letter, huh? Anyways, if you're reading this letter it must mean we got caught by whomever we got caught by. I want you to know it's not your fault we got caught because you always think it's your fault. Even as kids you would automatically blame yourself for everything. I also want you to know that when Jacob fed you that "bullshit" about imprints… it was true. All of our legends are true. I'm a giant furry monster that kills Cold Ones for a living. Ironic , no? Well, I figured I should tell you that I'm running away. Don't bother telling anyone I left notes for everyone I bothered to care about over the years. Tell Catalina and Aaron I said I'm sorry for leaving them. They were always one of my best friends… after you of course. And don't let Leah do anything stupid. Remember Sam always gets what he wants don't give in._

_I love you._

_~Seth_


	8. Book Two: Seth: Pain and Suffering

**Book Two: Seth**

**Pain and Suffering**

A week passed after getting caught by Jacob when I was with Alex, and I had yet to see him. It wasn't until nearly two weeks later when he made his appearance.

I was approaching the back steps to my house whistling lowly as I dug in my jean pockets for my jeans. After a while, I cursed loudly realizing they must have fallen out of my pocket. Hesitantly, I glanced around the yard before searching the grass for my keys. I had been searching for at least ten minutes before the sound of footsteps caused me to lift my head.

"Hey, Jacob," I leapt up from the ground and brushed off my jeans pretending not to noticed the pissed off look he wore. My eyes were suddenly drawn from his face down to his hands were he was casually tossing my keys back and forth. "You found my keys!" I reached out to grab my keys startled when he hurled them out into the trees. "What the fuck, Jake!" I moved to go retrieve my keys when Jacob's hand grabbed me roughly by the shoulder and pushed me back in front of him.

"What the hell were you doing with Alex?" his question shocked me and I smiled deciding to fake ignorance.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I quickly sidestepped him and dashed towards the direction of my keys. It didn't take long for Jacob to lunge after me yanking me back by the collar. My body lurched backwards and was suddenly propelled to the side by a blast of pain shooting up the side of my face. I clutched my head and let out a loud howl of pain just as his fist connected with my side sending me sprawling out on the ground.

Groaning, I sat up quick enough to get knocked by down by another quick blow to the head. It was somewhere around this time that Leah burst through the trees followed by Sam, Paul, and Embry. I momentarily felt a twinge of relief, but my moment ended quickly when Jacob pounced on me repeatedly punching me in the face.

I could have probably pushed him off me and made a break for the trees or possibly tried to fight back, but for some reason my body wouldn't respond. I felt as if I deserved this…

"Jacob," my sister's voice cried out in pain, and I could barely see her pound and claw at Jacob's back attempting to pull him off me. "Stop, Jake, please! I'm begging you!" tears poured out of her eyes causing me to lower my gaze back to Jacob's angry face. She didn't understand how I deserved this.

Somewhere in the background Sam was yelling at Embry to stay put and help control Paul and Jared who had somehow decided to try and pull Leah away from Jacob. My vision blurred slightly, and Jacob's hands found their way around my neck as he throttled my body.

"Seth has been messing with my imprint behind everyone's back, cheating on his girlfriend and stealing my one chance of happiness." I lay on the ground coiled up as Jacob yelled my crimes out to the whole pack and whoever seemed to witness my brutal trial. Whatever commotion that seemed to be going on the background suddenly ceased after hearing Jacob's words.

In a way, what Jacob announced was true. I had told the pack I had a girlfriend (Ashley Simmons) in order for them to stop pressuring me about being single. I had also made up lies about when I took Ashley out on "dates" to cover for when I went out with Alex. I guessed I had stole his one chance of happiness after what had happened with Bella and Edward, but was it wrong for me to want happiness for myself?

I had wanted Alex ever since we were children. I had known Alex better than Jacob; Jacob hadn't even looked at Alex until the imprint. Jacob stole _my_ chance of happiness. At the Fourth of July party, I had finally gotten the guts to do what I wanted and the day after Jacob had to steal it all.

Angry tears poured down my face as these thoughts ran through my mind. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

Sam gave Jacob a look of pity before motioning for him to continue.

My whole body went numb.

Sam was approving of this.

I could hear my sister's complaints as she screamed at Sam yelling for him to stop what Jacob was doing until he commanded her be quiet. After that, there were no sounds except the smack of Jacob's fists continually hitting my face.

I endured the beating for at least a few hours longer before Jacob spat in my face and walked away. I wasn't sure how long I lay there until Leah began to cradle me in her arms. My swollen eyes were barely able to make out the tears streaming down her face.

* * *

Throughout the month I was constantly being attacked and harassed by the members of the pack until Sam ordered everyone to have no contact with me which forced me to run patrols every night until the crack of dawn. Jacob refused to acknowledge my existence blaming me for Alex's sudden vow of silence around him. I had just gotten used to being shunned by the pack when Sam visited me after school.

He pulled over to the side of the road impatiently after trailing me for nearly the whole walk home. His face was pressed close to mine, and the frown lines on the sides of his lips were more noticeable. Immediately, I knew what was coming.

Another week and a half later I was staring Alex in the eyes as she listened to my half hearted break up. Each line I had spoke Sam had commanded to me to say. Each word was perfectly scripted and held the right amount of pain. It wasn't even my own words I was using to express my heartbreak.

I had watched as she walked away.

I had watched as she saw Jared whispering something to Aaron.

I had watched as she and Aaron left in tears.

I had watched as Sam smiled in approval.

I had watched as a group I had once thought of as family now looked more like strangers.

It was later that night I had written out a note explaining everything as best as I could before sneaking it in her room. I packed a few clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, money, and a picture of Alex into a gym bag before leaving La Push.

* * *

It was official. I had detached myself from the pack and once I phased their voices weren't in my head. At first it was startling, normally I would here Jared's voice typically responding to something Paul had said. After a few seconds I took off.

I ran until my feet hurt. I ran until my legs felt like they were going to detach themselves from the sockets. When I stopped to rest, my massive body collapsed on the ground. The smells of the woods barraged me from all sides reminding me too much of home and of Alex. I rested my head on my front paws allowing my eyes to drift shut.

I woke to the sounds of birds chirping and the feel of rain gently hitting my fur. I slowly rose to my full height before taking off even further north.

I didn't know where I was going. From the times when Jake hung out with Bella, he remembered her mentioning a vampire mafia. The name started with a V… Voltri, Volri, it was something like that. He mentioned something about Bella blabbing on about vampires like the Cullens that live up in Alaska. I could go up there ask them about the "vampire club" and then quickly be on my way.

Easy, right?

Wrong.

I had no idea where in Alaska these vampires would be and how could I even be sure they would tell me where this group of vampires were. Still, it was my only hope. With any luck the vampires would allow me into their elite mafia or whatever. I know it was a slim chance, but compared to other options it was the one thing I could do.

* * *

**This went in a different direction than I thought it would go, but be assured that this will play back into what's going on back in La Push.**

**~B**


	9. Hide and Seek

**Book Two: Seth**

**Hide and Seek**

I wasn't the pack's best tracker for nothing.

Within an easy week of being in Alaska, I had located the coven of vampires living in Denali. I caught the faint trail of one earlier today and followed it to a small cottage nestled behind a grove of trees. The stench of bloodsuckers was so potent that it nearly caused me to gag. I hadn't been around vampires since I left La Push, and even then it was only for the Newborn War.

I monitored the house for a few moments before quickly phasing back into a human. My legs easily gave out underneath me. After getting used to my human body, I managed to awkwardly dress myself. It took a few failed attempts, but I was able to make my way over to the cottage.

Whatever noise that came from the cottage stopped when I approached the house. I hesitated at the door.

What if they weren't the right vampires?

What if they didn't live here anymore?

A quick sniff of the air made me cross out the last option. With the smell that fresh they had to have recently been here.

My eyes glared down the wooden door before I managed to gain the confidence to ring the doorbell. Suddenly, the sound of a chair scraping against the floor was audibly heard. Footsteps followed. I clenched my hands into tight fists as the door swung open.

I was prepared for lethal vampires with piercing crimson colored eyes to be staring me down. I could picture the look of disgust on their faces as they each took turn torturing me one by one. I was _not_ prepared for a teenage girl with bright red hair, golden eyes, a gentle smile, and a yellow sundress to open the door. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

I was baffled.

Sam had spent a year convincing me that all vampires –even the Cullens– would be lethal, dangerous, and would look like something off of a scary movie, but standing in front of this girl convinced me that there were vampires out there who could be somewhat… humane.

The girl frowned as she took in my shocked appearance and lack of shoes and shirt; her eyes landed on my face, and she wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Who are you?" She spoke with a heavy accent that made it extremely hard to understand what she was saying.

I swallowed nervously, and she sighed audibly before repeating her question in a louder tone, "Who are you, and the hell are you doing on my doorstep at fucking six in the damn morning?"

"I-I'm S-Seth C-Clearwater, and I-I'm a f-friend of the C-Cullens." My voice came out shaky, but I must've somehow got the point across because in an instant her cold undead fingers wrapped around my wrist and pulled me inside.

I thought the smell outside the house was bad, but the smell _inside_ was enough to make my head spin from nausea. I coughed a couple times before deciding to breathe through my mouth. The thought of spending any more time in this house was enough to make me forget how nervous I was a few moments ago.

"Are the Cullens in trouble?" the girl asked as she led me through an empty dining room and into a small kitchen. "Did they get attacked? Are the Volturi coming?" she spoke faster and faster as her words became blurred together to the point where I was positive she was speaking in a different language. I made out a few curse words that she spoke in English before giving up on trying to understand her.

"Why are you here? Why did they not send Mary-Alice or Rosalie?" Her attention soon became focused on me and I shifted awkwardly.

"Actually, they do not know I'm here…" my words trailed as she cast me a skeptic look. "I'm running a small errand, but they never gave me the full details on where I was going?" The lies fell off my tongue before I could stop them. "They said if I needed help to go to Denali and look for a coven of 'vegetarian' vampires."

"What did they need for this errand?"

I smiled as she leaned forward knowing I had succeeded in my lie. "They never told me. Said go to find the Votri or Voltu or something and tell them the favor needed to be returned." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Said it was urgent, so I just decided to check here to see if you knew where the Voltu is."

She buried her head in her hands muttering silently to herself. She began muttering in French before she switched over to German then to something that sounded amazingly like Italian, but I couldn't be sure.

"Listen to me and listen to me well." She leaned in even closer to the point where I could see every speck of gold in her eyes. "Dealing with the Volturi is something that shouldn't be done. They are very dangerous and wud not hesitate in killing whomever they view as a threat." She swallowed nervously. "First of all repeat after me, Volturi."

"Volturi?"

"Yes, good. That is there name do not call them anything else, and remember when you speak you talk only to Aro, who is the leader of the Volturi. If you have to speak to anyone else, it would be Caius or Marcus, who are Aro's brothers.

"You don't speak back, you don't insult them, and you act like you're representing the Cullens and not a weak coven."

I nodded my head and her shoulders visibly relaxed.

"Volterra, Italy."

With those two words I was on my way.

* * *

The girl, whose name I later learned was Tanya, gave me a cell phone, money for a plane ticket, and a map of Italy. It was only when I was boarding the plane that she informed me to watch out for the Romani vampires. They were bent on assassinating all of the supernatural world and starting over from scratch. That was enough to make me realize what I got myself into.


	10. Volterra, Italy

**Book Two: Seth**

**Volterra, Italy**

When I took my first step outside of the airport in Volterra, Italy, I immediately wasted no time in merging myself in with a large group of tourists. Thankfully, I wasn't as big as the rest of the pack giving me the ability to easily blend in with humans.

It didn't take long for me to run into a vampire. I guess the bittersweet irony was that I had unknowingly walked myself into the tourist group that the Volturi lures to their castle. Tanya never told me what happened to the tourists that went to the Volturi Castle, but they never came out once they went in, and I had one easy guess as to what happened to them…

My stomach dropped as the girl vampire leading the group locked eyes with me. On instinct, my nose scrunched up from the burning stench. Almost a split second later, two more male vampires approached to group abruptly forcing all of us to huddle together. The vampires did a quick sweep of the group momentarily allowing their eyes to rest on my form before herding us onto a tour bus.

When I thought I would only face four or five vampires, I realized that I was completely _un_prepared. Adding to the three vampires from the airport there were two on the bus upping the total count to about five. Then there would be the three kings as well as the two wives. That meant if we faced the kings I would be up against ten or more vampires.

The odds were not good.

My heart rate quickened as I took in the appearance of a vampire. The two males that approached us in the airport were buff, and looked the hardest to take out. The girl looked extremely fragile and… well _nervous_. Hopefully, she was new and didn't have a lot of experience, but that still left the bus driver and the short young girl who appeared to related to the bus driver somehow.

Once again, the probability of me winning this fight was damn near impossible. But I knew I had to try because if I didn't make myself seem worthy of joining the Guard then I was as good as dead.

By the time we arrived at the castle, it was sunset casting an orange glow off the tall mysterious building ahead. The vampires had swiftly draped black cloaks around their bodies as they lead us through the courtyard. The girl who had gotten this group of tourists together began waving her arms around as she wove into a complicated story of the three kings who ruled over this land. She spoke loudly and clearly and whatever nerves she had seemed to evaporate as we neared the approaching castle.

"Beware," She called out. "The kings don't take kindly to humans."

Many tourists began taking pictures of the large gates, and ogling whatever cheap decorations we seemed to past. They seemed to be buying into this cheap show.

From the time it took us to walk inside the castle and enter the main hall, I could sense another vampire had joined the group. The tour guided us through the winding halls of the palace, through the dungeons, across a garden, and through a dining room before we stopped in front of two large wooden doors.

My mind had barely comprehending anything said after this. Some feeling of apprehension and fear washed over me, and some tourists were twitching from suspense. Of course, the vampires had formed a half circle around us to prevent anyone from slipping away.

This was it.

The doors creaked open allowing a pool of light to wash over us but by now the vampires were moving around us at a blinding speed. Their hoods blurred together, and it became impossible to distinguish one vampire from the next. Before I could respond, the tour guide grabbed a girl by the arm and pushed her forward.

"Aro, Marcus, and Caius," she knelt down on one knee as she addressed the kings. "I offer you this girl. Let her blood cleanse your thirst as you grant us the honor of feasting from these humans." More tourists tried to snap photos while I assessed the position of the room. There was no way out, yet my mind wouldn't grasp that my death was slowly approaching me until the vampires began moving forward pushing us closer to the kings.

The door clanged shut behind us and the vampires quick movements abruptly stopped. I was suddenly sure that the chance of me surviving had just flown out the window.

Oh God.

The three kings sat in the center of the room forming a triangle with who I assumed was Aro at the point closer to us. He smiled triumphantly before sinking his teeth in the girl's neck. Suddenly, all hell broke loose. The girl's mother tried to approach Aro but was grabbed by the tour guide who made a great show of snapping her neck.

The group panicked and attempted to run away, but was stopped by various vampires who began to feed from them. A couple of people managed to make it the door, and began push and pull on it in a desperate attempt to open the door.

Sweet motherfucking mother of Jesus!

**Next chapter will be long and promising just because I was lacking ideas for this chapter!**

**~B**


	11. Book Three: Alex: Alone and Lost

**Tommorrow I'm going to Florida and will not be back for a week, and I decided to write you two beautiful chapters in one beautiful day :)**

* * *

**Book Three: Alex**

**Alone and Lost**

Now that Seth was gone I felt myself becoming more closed in and more reserved. I barely went outside unless it was with Catalina or Aaron and even those were rare occurrences. Often times I would see Sam and Jared standing on the street corner by my house glaring up my window with enough hate and malice that it could make the devil quake in fear. In school, they would pass me and scoff in disgust not even bothering to look my way. The only person who had even attempted to reach out to me was Jacob, and he was the last person I wanted to see.

When I looked at the facts, it was obvious it was Jacob's fault Seth had left. He had driven him out by beating him repeatedly; Jacob's own fear of losing me had fed into his jealousy over Seth and I's quickly developing relationship. It was this mix of emotions that he had felt that had probably sent him over the edge.

I can't lie about my feelings for Jacob. I liked him. I mean I like like him, and I know that bringing up grade school terms of admitting that you like someone is probably not the best way to handle the situation, but I couldn't find it in myself to actually admit that I might _love_ him. It was hard enough for me to handle this burning desire I seemed to have for him, but how could I possibly admit that I loved someone who had nearly beaten to death the man I was 100% sure I loved.

It had seemed that Seth's absence was only making me grow more and more desperate to be around him. Losing him was how I was able to realize how deep my feelings actually went. Our little rendezvous weren't just flings, but they were how we could actually show how we felt for each other because if we tried to show how we felt for each other in an open relationship…

Well we all know how quickly _that_ boat sank.

* * *

About a couple of weeks after Seth's absence Leah came to talk to me. Her facial expression was kinder and much softer than I had seen it in years, yet despite these differences her eyes seemed to be red and puffy from crying. For a moment, I wasn't sure if it was actually Leah who was actually standing at my door, but when she smiled and told me she was leaving La Push everything hit me.

My knees had buckled under me, and I found myself clinging to the doorframe for support. Wasn't it bad enough I had lost Seth? Now by some cruel chance I was losing Leah? No, no I couldn't handle this.

Despite our differences and lack of communication since Seth had been gone I couldn't help but feel a connection to Leah. I had grown up with her (looked up to her even), and I thought of her as a sister, but she was _leaving_ me.

My breaths were coming in quick uneven gasps as I choked back tears I would never have the guts to cry in front of her. How could fate this cruel? Had life taken every chance it had to kick me when I was down. First, I had lost dad as a child, and now here I was losing the two of the four people outside my family that kept me rooted to La Push. I couldn't lose Leah. She was my last connection to the real world. To the world that didn't wrap me up in bandages from fear of breaking me. The world that would toughen me up until I had gone so bitchy on the outside no one could read the inside.

How I could get through this without her?

"I can't stay here anymore," her voice sounded small and faraway as she whispered to me, "I can't be in a place where everything reminds me of him."

"Of Seth," I asked.

"No," she shook her sadly. "Things that remind of _Sam_. The things that constantly remind me of what he took from me. How he tore my family apart."

I squeezed my eyes shut attempting to will her voice to stop. I was unable to handle this. Leah Clearwater had never spoken to anyone about her feelings, and I wasn't ready to have her explain to me what she had been hiding. It made my heart wrench and tear, and every bit of will I had that urged me to fight against my depression would get worn away if I continued to let her talk.

By the time I opened my eyes, tears were rolling down both of her cheeks, and her body was shaking. Oh God no. Please. Anything but this…

She said she was sorry.

She said she couldn't fight anymore.

She said six years was a long time to fight.

I didn't listen to any of it. But when I look back on that day when Leah Clearwater had said goodbye, I realized I should have said _something_. Maybe I didn't say anything because realizing Leah couldn't fight through the pain meant that I couldn't even stand I chance. That I would give out without her. that our pain was so similar I stopped seeing Leah Clearwater saying goodbye that I began to see myself give this goodbye to my friends.

Even now I wondered how many people knew she was leaving. From the gossip going around the town the next few days, I had an easy guess that I was the only person who knew. I was the only person she could count as a friend, and I just now realized how hard Leah Clearwater had been fighting.


	12. Broken Beyond Repair

**Book Three: Alex**

**Broken Beyond Repair**

Summer rolled in quickly, and Jacob became more persistent in trying to get me to acknowledge his presence. Everytime he would try to approach me I would ignore him, and he would be back the next day or so to ask again. His constant appearance was something that I dreaded and feared. Whenever I looked at him, all I could picture was Seth's bruised face as he told me that whatever was going on between us needed to stop. For his safety, no, for _our_ safety.

* * *

I stared at the sea as it churned and crashed against the rocks down below sending sprays of salt water to fling themselves at the walls of the cliffs almost desperately. Behind me I could hear Jacob seething from my blatant refusal to go anywhere with him this summer due to the fact of Seth's mysterious disappearance. I could tell that his fists were clenched and his teeth were grinding together as he spit out a few jumbled words at me:

"I don't- why can't you- should- why won't-" he huffed silently as he searched for the right words to say. "Why won't you go out with me? Why did you choose Seth over me?"

Hearing Jacob utter Seth's name shook my body. It forced my eyes to close and my heart to pound loudly, wildly, and uncontrollably. Hearing his name caused my fingers to twitch and my body to ache and yearn after him. But hearing his name fall from the lips of Jacob was enough to make me angry, no, to make me infuriated.

"I wasn't aware we were suddenly playing twenty questions." I spat out. Whatever filter that had kept me in check and helped me to not lose my temper was suddenly giving up on its job. "Tell me Jacob, what is something as fragile as glass and as gentle as a flower? What is something that constantly gets beaten, tormented, and bruised until it is black and blue? What is something that always gets hurts and never gets fixed, something that's always broken, something that cannot be healed?" my voice gradually rose until I was screaming at him. My chest heaved up and down as I sucked in the salty air that reminded me too much of Seth. My hair flew around my head creating a tangled mess that reminded me too much of how Seth would play in it. My eyes burned with hate and anger that reminded too much of Seth would stare lovingly at him. Everything reminded me of him and nothing could make me forget what Jacob had done.

I glared at Jacob with enough force to rival the glares that Sam Uley could muster up, and he stared at me startled that I had lost my temper with him.

"A heart," I whispered. "A heart is all those things Jacob Black. And only someone whose heart is tainted with jealousy and greed or someone without a heart could stand by and break someone else's. So I suggest that you go out and _get_ a heart since that's a department you are clearly lacking in."

* * *

**Omg I think those were the two best chapters I have written in a loooong time!**

**~B**


	13. Time Has Passed

**Book Three: Alex**

**Time Has Passed**

More time has passed since Seth's disappearance, almost six months, and I find myself struggling to remember the features of his face or the sharp cut of his hair. His appearance slowly became a memory and without the memory of Seth my will to drive out Jacob had slowly been lessening. Why should it matter if I go out with Jacob? It's clear Seth isn't ever coming back.

* * *

The Fourth of July came around, so for the sake of my friends I willed myself to smile, dress up, and hang on to Jacob's arm as if I was lucky to be with him. I tried to ignore how Catalina lustfully looked at Brady Michaels, how heartbroken Aaron looked whenever she saw Jared and Kim, and how incomplete I looked next to Jacob. The three of us were tangled deep in Sam's web of lies and deceit and it was slowly killing us. We had no idea how to get out or to free ourselves, and every attempt brought us more pain.

The whole party I stood awkwardly at the side of the group of people dancing trying not to be envious of each happy couple. I could see Aaron clutching the edge of the table staring in disbelief at Jared and Kim her eyes wide and frantic. Catalina talked to Brady trying to ignore how he wasn't paying attention to the conversation. When had we gotten so pathetic?

Jacob sauntered over to me holding a glass of punch. "Hey babe," he wrapped his arms around me gently pressing his lips against my neck. "Why aren't you dancing?" his hands moved gently up and down my arms.

"I don't want to dance." I pulled away from Jacob and began walking over to the table filled with food trying not to notice him following me.

"Why not?"

"I don't feel like it."

"You want me to take you home?"

"Sure."

Jacob sighed from my lack emotion, but led me to his car.

The whole ride to my house was tense and filled with awkward silences. It was hard for me to look him in the eyes and fake all the love and devotion shit when he was the reason I was so broken in the first place, but this whole imprint bullshit kept me feeling emotionally tied to him. My heart screamed for him, but my body and soul yearned something else. It yearned for something that Jacob wasn't.

As soon as he dropped me off home, I bolted into the house not even trying to stop the tears that streamed down my cheeks. I saw him lean out the car window to ask if I was okay, and I hastily shut the door. I would kneel over and die before he saw me cry.

* * *

Catalina passed me a note in the hallway as she moved away from my locker and walked towards Brady who was busy chatting to Collin. I wasted no time in opening the folded piece of paper and reading the messy handwriting. It took me a couple times to read it and fully process what the note was saying, but the message was clear. Seth was back.

* * *

I had spent the rest of my week going to school in a daze and going around town with my friends in a daze. Everything seemed so unreal and faraway, but my mind wouldn't let go of the possibility that Seth had returned. La Push was no big town, in fact, I'm not even sure if it qualified as a town seeing that it was an Indian Reservation; either way La Push was small enough that if he was here then I should have seen him by now. Right?

I groaned getting the attention of Catalina, Aaron, and Jacob as we walked down the street. Jacob was in the middle of saying something, but his attention wavered between my groan and the shadow of a figure in the group of trees up ahead. Catalina and Aaron smiled apologetically at Jacob before giving me a one-over to make sure I hadn't mysteriously injured myself. Apparently, they hadn't seen the figure looming ahead in the trees.

"How does it feel being with my leftovers, Jakey?" My heart skipped a beat as the figure spoke. Jake snarled angrily while my face lit up in recognition at the sound of the voice. "How does it feel knowing I touched that body first, that I kissed those lips, and that everything you've done," the figure paused, "I already did to her?"

Jacob stepped forward angrily as Seth sauntered out of the trees his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans. Seth's appearance had changed since I last saw him. His face had matured slightly, and his body was more muscular (a feat I thought was impossible). His eyes were hidden by dark shades, and he wore a white v-neck with a dark leather jacket over top. My eyes wandered down to his feet shocked that he was walking around barefoot. Certainly his feet had to hurt… oh wait… werewolves don't get scratches from whatever shit happened to be lying on the ground.

Catalina stared at me struggling to see my reaction while Aaron blinked rapidly at Seth's approaching form. My heart thudded loudly in my chest, and the only words my brain could process was:

Holy Shit. It's Seth.

* * *

**Next chapter it's Book Four: Jacob *duh duh duuuuuh* unfortunately do my inability to focus on jacob's feeling in this particular story for too long his POV will be a short lived thing (only 1 chapter). Then we can focus on the interesting part of the plot ! Muwahahaha!**

**~B**


	14. Book Four: Jacob: Hard Feelings

***Warning this chapter contains two books:**

**Book Three: Alex and Book Four: Jacob**

**If you can stomach the thought then READ ON READER!**

* * *

**Book Three: Alex**

**Unknown Emotions**

I couldn't help myself as I ran towards Seth, and tackled him into a hug. He chuckled a little bit and wrapped his muscular arms around my slim waist wrapping me in his bubble of warmth. I snuggled in deeper allowing my fingers to clutch the thin worn out fabric of his shirt. Everything about this seemed dream-like… it seemed… unreal.

Seth placed his hands on either side of my face. His shades blocked me from clearly looking into his eyes, but something told me they were filled with warmth. I licked my lips nervously, and he leaned forward so that his lips were just barely brushing mine.

"Excuse me, Seth, I don't meant to interrupt." Jacob's voice cut through the silence, and I jumped out of fright. "But I believed that is my date you're cuddling."

"Last time I checked this was my girl." Seth countered in a harsh voice.

"Well that was over a year ago," Catalina snickered silently. "Things have changed a little bit since then, Seth."

Seth tightened his hold on me forcing me to bury my face in his chest (not that I was complaining). Aaron coughed loudly before grabbing Catalina's arm. She looked oddly nervous about Seth's sudden appearance. I could understand how she was feeling. Seth had left me last year after getting beaten up by my imprint, but something about this visit felt… different. It had me feeling with a sense that something big was going to happen.

I swallowed nervously between the obvious tension going through Jacob and Seth. Even Catalina and Aaron, who were left in the dark about the real reason this happened, could sense that something big was going on between Jake and Seth.

"Clearly, since Jake was feeling confident enough to take out my girl."

"Seth, relax it was nothing." I ran my hands over his chest allowing my fingers to memorize the feel of his muscles. "We're just friends."

Seth pressed his lips against my forehead giving them a few moments to rest against my skin before he pulled away. "It's been too long."

"Where have you been?"

"Italy."

* * *

**Book Four: Jacob**

**Hard Feelings**

I growled angrily as I smashed my hands against Emily's table. Sam frowned at the indents of my fists that were left on the edge of the counter top and I sighed. "I'll fix it, Sam." From across the room, Embry gave me a sympathetic look. It comforted me yet angered me at the same time. The feeling of support from the Pack was enough to relax the tension in my muscles, but knowing that they pitied me was enough for me to angrily clench my fists.

"What did Seth want?" Sam placed a hand on my shoulder quietly urging me to speak.

"I don't know, Sam," I sighed desperately. "He wanted _her_, but he had that look. It was like he was trying to tell me that something was coming, and it was big."

"But if Seth hates you as much as he is hinting he does, why would he warn us?" Quil pointed out.

"I don't know if he was warning me… it was more like smugness."

"So he came to throw everything back in our faces in some sort of twisted way of getting revenge?" Paul asked.

"No, he came to beat up Jacob and get the girl." Embry cried.

"That's not the point," I yelled. Everyone stared in silence as they waited for me to speak. It took a while but eventually I rubbed myface and cleared mythroat. "It was the fact that he reeked of vampires. It was like he surrounded himself with a coven of vampires for the year that he was gone." Sam opened his mouth to comment, but I held up a hand to cut him off. "The weirdest thing was… he smelled as if his natural scent has been changed, so that it smelled a little like vampires."

I ignored the look that the Pack gave me. I could sense the disbelief in the air as easily as I could sense Seth's smugness. Of course, it would be nearly impossible to explain how I was over 100% sure that Seth was giving me a secret message when he showed up today, and it would be twice as impossible to explain how his scent had mingled in with the scent of vampires. The only way I could explain it was if Seth had spent the whole year surrounded by vampires, but then shouldn't Sam's scent have mingled with Emily's if mixing scents was possible.

Sam placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. He believed me somewhat, but he also had an air of doubt around him, and that seemed to make all the difference. How could I warn my brothers about what might happen if they doubted me?

I squeezed my eyes shut trying to shove any negative thoughts to the back of my mind. My main priority was keeping my imprint safe and making sure that at all costs Seth does _not_ get her.


	15. Book Five: Seth: Confrontation

**Book Five: Seth**

**Confrontation**

I stood in front of my former Alpha. The trees stood around us seeming to lean forward in excitement at the fight that was bound to happen at any moment. Jacob stayed the same since I had last seen him but from a look in the morning earlier this morning it was confirmed that I was taller and more muscular. My muscles tensed as Jacob leaned forward studying me. He was looking for that naïve gangly kid that was here a year ago, but that kid was gone.

This was a new Seth.

Casually, I pulled off my sunglasses and jacket tossing them at the base of the nearest tree. I rolled my shoulders allowing Jacob to get a good view of my muscles.

Without warning Jacob phased taking no time to lung at me, and I easily rolled out of the way. He quickly turned to lunge at me again, but this time I phased meeting him head on.

We both went down to the ground in a flash of angry limbs. Jake managed to scratch me on my leg, but I quickly slid out from under him before scratching him the stomach. He leapt up angrily trying to claw at me. He struggled to keep up with me as I dodged his attacks only nipping him occasionally. This was too easy. I was faster than him. I was stronger than him.

Jake leapt at me and with a burst of adrenaline I tackled him down slashing at him repeatedly. By the time I got off of him, he was bleeding all over the ground.

I lunged for his throat.

* * *

Alex stood in front of me wearing her pajamas. I took in every curve of her body as she yawned loudly before snuggling in my side. We were curled up on her sofa watching a movie, at least, she was watching the movie; I was watching her.

I shifted my body slightly as Alex scooted over so her legs were draped over my lap. She sighed contentedly, allowing my fingers to gently brush over every inch of skin that wasn't covered by her pajamas. I was memorizing the feel of her skin under my fingertips when a knock on the door sent me body deathly still. Alex, unaware of my temporary state of shock, moved off of my lap and made her way to the door.

It was somewhere around this time that I started panicking. I knew for sure that by now someone had to have found Jake and those same people were standing outside Alex's door. Paul and Sam were waiting outside, and I could easily race to her backdoor and escape, but they most likely had the place surrounded. I could outrun them, but eventually I would need to stop.

Alex opened the door yawning slightly, and I knew my time was up. I heard Paul's gruff voice ask her if she had heard from Jake.

Time for a new game.

I sauntered over to Alex, wrapping my arms around her slim waist and planting kisses up and down her neck. Paul folded his arms across his chest as he glared at my sudden attraction to Alex's neck. "Seth, can I talk to you?" I nodded my head in what I assumed was a nonchalant way.

Once we were outside the atmosphere changed. Paul led me to the back of the house with Sam following closely behind us. I could tell the Pack was here, waiting for me to run. All of them would be ready to attack me as soon as I made it to the trees. I swallowed nervously as Paul grabbed me by the collar.

"Does she know?" Paul's voice was dangerously calm, and I was fighting to up my look of nonchalance. I found myself raising a questioning eyebrow only to receive a fist to the face from Paul. "Does she know what you did to Jake?" I stayed quiet which gave me yet another fist to the face.

"You haven't changed a bit since I last seen you, Paul." The older wolf growled at me, and I reluctantly turned to look at Sam. "How's Emily? Is she still the same backstabbing cousin that you left Leah for?" Sam lunged at me causing me to laugh at how quickly he was angered. Somehow I managed to keep talking even as he continuously beat me. "How's the side of her face healing up?"

Sam snarled viciously at me. "You leave Emily out of this." Paul cracked his knuckles loudly and I shrugged casually. "You Clearwaters are all the same. Your family was never able to let go of a grudge."

"It's hard to let go of a grudge that nearly sends your only sister into a depression that she nearly killed herself over. It's even harder to let go of a grudge if your best friend almost killed you just because you happened to be attracted to the same girl."

Sam released me giving Paul a knowing look. I watched as Paul –the new Beta– snapped his fingers causing all the Pack to walk out of the tree line. I took in each and every one of their hardened faces before doing a retake. There were only eight wolves, only eight _male_ wolves.

"Where's Leah?" My voice came out with much more emotion than I had intended and when my question was greeted by silence I lost control. "Where the fuck is my sister?" I snarled loudly as my body began to shake. Sam folded his arms across his chest and I spun around to face him. "If I find out any of you laid a finger on her, I will personally-"

"You'll personally what?" Paul interrupted my threat midsentence. Unable to reply I settled for snarling at him. "You took out our Alpha when he was alone, so how do you expect to be able to take out eight wolves by yourself."

My shaking was getting worse, and I didn't want to give any of them the satisfaction of knowing that they had gotten to my head. "Where is Leah?" This time my voice came out quiet, and Brady looked away from me nervously.

"She left." Collin's voice broke the silence, and my shaking ceased abruptly. "She left a little after you did. She only told Alex she was leaving, but she never mentioned where she was going. We tried to track her down, but-"

I growled loudly cutting off his sentence before turning to face Sam. "_You_ let me sister leave when you _knew_ there's a good chance she could get her ass _killed_." Sam stared at me with unreadable eyes as a surge of emotion went through me. "She's probably dead, Sam. You let her leave when-"

I swallowed unable to finish my sentence. I received cold stares from all the wolves as I broke down. My breathing came out shaky and I was wobbling on my feet. How could she have just left? I told her that I was coming back. Did she not believe me? I closed my eyes unwilling to stare at any of them. They let her leave. They let her seal her own death certificate.

A shimmer passed through the air, and I opened my eyes to find myself staring at Sam's wolf form. His hackles were raised, his lips were pulled back, and his eyes were trained on me. Suddenly this was about much more than doing what the Volturi asked of me or trying to get revenge about what Jake did. No this was about much more and with a stunning clarity I knew this wasn't even for my sister: it was for all the people Sam had hurt.

My body shook and I phased easily. I could sense the Pack's shock at how I was bigger than Sam. Whatever doubts I had about fighting them were gone. Something strange had awoken inside of me and it was fighting to get out. It was daring one of them attack to me, daring one of them to see just how much mercy I would give them before ending their lives'. Most of all, this thing inside me wanted Sam dead. The exact same way it wanted Jacob dead.

Sam leapt forward, closing the small space between us easily, and I quickly moved out of the way. Instincts took over, and I too leapt forward. Our bodies collided midair, causing a loud crashing sound to echo through the lawn. Sam pinned me down for a brief second, but I easily climbed out from underneath him.

Paul phased and lunged at me when he thought I wasn't looking. Somewhat surprised I barely managed to move out of the way, but I felt better when my hind leg hit Paul in the face. Sam charged at me again, and I slid underneath him clawing at his stomach before getting dragged out by Paul. The older wolf managed to throw me into the trees, and I quickly took off fully aware of the large Pack that was chasing me.

I led them away from Alex's house and almost near the treaty line before I suddenly turned around and lunged at the closest wolf. My body smashed into Jared's forcing him to the ground, thankfully, I recovered before him. I broke through the next line of wolves before sinking my teeth into Sam's leg. Embry yanked me forcefully off of his new Alpha before throwing me towards Quil, Brady, and Collin who began clawing at me.

My legs swung wildly around before I smashed one of my paws against Quil's nose. I watched my former friend back away slowly before knocking the pups' feet out from under them. I had no business with the wolves here; I only had something to settle with Sam.

I wasted no time in attacking Sam again. He easily matched my attacks before I managed to smash into him catching him off guard. He lost his balance for a moment, and I sank my teeth into his neck feeling his body go limp under mine. Every wolf froze as I detached my teeth from Sam's neck. I glared at his fallen form before taking off into the night. None of the Pack came after me as I sprinted away.

The only sound that was heard in the woods was the painful sounds of my former Pack mates as they mourned another loss of a brother.

* * *

I washed my face off in a river before pulling on my clothes which were now caked in dirt. It was a pity too, this was my only good leather jacket left over. I checked the pockets of my ruined jacket before pulling out a phone. Somehow it made through the fight. I would have to remember to thank Jane for finally getting me a phone that wouldn't get smashed every time I fight.

I dialed the familiar number holding my breath as it rang. It took a while, but eventually a smooth velvety voice answered the phone.

"Felix, is that you?" I ignored how panicked my voice must've sounded to the older vampire. After another moment of silence, the voice confirmed that it was indeed Felix. "Good I need to speak to Aro. Yes, it's urgent –don't use that tone with me!" It took several tries, but eventually the phone was handed off to Aro.

"Seth, did you finish your little act of revenge?"

"Yes, I killed the Alpha, but then the Beta attacked me, and I might or might not have also killed him and injured several others in the Pack."

There was a long silence and then Aro spoke again. "You know that now it's insured that they'll come after you." I groaned loudly. "You are to stay in Washington until each and every member of that Pack is destroyed."

* * *

**Bum bum buuum! XD I tried to make it look like Seth was starting to turn into a bad guy, but I think I failed a little bit…**

**~B**

**PS check out my other story Half-Breed It's a Seth O/C story **


	16. Running

**Book Five: Seth**

**Running**

I tapped my foot nervously on the tiled floor as the line slowly shuffled forward. Alex gripped my hand tightly, her large brown eyes scanning the area for any Pack members that might've followed us. As we neared the front of the line, I gripped the boarding passes less tightly knowing that once we were on the plane everything would be alright.

A part of me wanted to rush back to La Push in fear of what would happen if Aro found out I was disobeying orders. Another part of me wanted to go to Volterra and pray that Aro would forgive me. The last part of me wanted to disappear forever and grow old with Alex, but I knew by now that would never happen.

"Have a nice trip," I smiled at the man who collected my boarding pass before I led a panicked Alex onto the plane. We quietly shuffled to the middle of the plane before sitting down.

"See, everything is OK," I whispered to Alex noticing how her muscles relaxed at the sound of my voice. "We'll be fine once the plane lands." I kissed her on the cheek gently enjoying the feel of her skin on my lips.

"Excuse me, sir," my heart rate sped up as I looked up at the sound of the familiar voice. "May I sit here?" I found myself staring face-to-face with none other than Brady. He stared at me for a moment before sitting down in the empty seat. "Sir," Brady curiously looked at me, "I'm not sure who you are anymore, but I want you to know that I'm one hundred percent sure that the man I used to know is still in there."

My heart pounded loudly as I looked at Brady and I lifted my head to see if any other Pack members were following me. "How the hell did you get here? Who sent you?"

Brady shook his head sadly at me. "Sir, I came by myself. I don't care whether or not you believe me, but I trust you, and I'm here to help you. Paul and Jared heard you were heading to Spain, and they convinced the Cullens to let the Pack take their private jet to Spain. They're already in the country waiting for you." This piece of information startled me. How did they know I was going to Spain? I hadn't told anyone, and I had even kept it a secret from Alex.

"I also have something else to tell you, sir." I stared at Brady contemplating whether or not I should attack him now or let him finish. After a while, Brady continued to talk, "When Collin told you we didn't know where she was, he was lying. Leah left a letter to Jacob explaining that everything would be better if she left, and that if he decided to join her she was going to go to Brazil."

"How do we know you're not lying?" Alex's voice shocked me for a moment, but Brady remained calm as he stared at her.

"Because I grew up with Seth and I'll be damned if I watch another brother die; I don't care if he's a traitor or not, brothers don't give up on brothers."

I stared at Brady for a while before nodding my head. "He can stay."

* * *

Brady stayed with us when we landed in Spain, and immediately purchased tickets to Brazil. He followed us as we searched through the jungles looking for my sister. He followed me when I did stupid things and for that I gave him respect. It was reassuring in an odd way to know that one of my brothers never gave up on me after killing two of their Packmates.

Alex, Brady, and I searched for two weeks before giving up. There was no trace of my sister, and if she was here what would've been the odds of her staying? Accepting these facts was hard for me, but Alex managed to reassure me that she was safe wherever she was.

By the time it was week three, I began to realize we weren't alone. One night at the hotel when I was extremely worried, I began to confess about my time in Italy to Brady and Alex.

"When I left, I went to join the Volturi which is kind of like a vampire mafia in Italy. While I was there they promised they could make me stronger. The idea was tempting. After all, the reason this happened was because I was too weak to fight back.

"After a month of training, Aro – the leader – finally came up with an injection they could give me to make me stronger. They mixed vampire venom with a bunch of steroids before injecting it in me. The change in my body took a week to complete and that week was hell. I couldn't feel anything except this intense burning and whenever I felt like I was going to die from the pain an icy feeling would wash over me. The iciness was comforting in a weird way. Yes, it hurt, but for a moment it made me forget about the burning feeling.

"When my change was done, Aro immediately made me train with the members of the Guard. They found that my new change made me stronger and faster than a normal wolf, but a side effect was that it made me more animal and less human. Aro thought this was perfect and he spent months making the animal side of me more and more powerful.

"Eventually, I convinced Aro to let me come back and get you. But of course Aro wouldn't let me ago unless I promised him something…" my voice trailed off and Brady leaned forward.

"What did you promise?"

I remained silent and Alex's hand found mine. "Seth, babe, we need to know what you promised."

"I promised that if I didn't make it back alive that you would take my place in the Volturi Guard." The silence that followed was deafeningly loud and it added to my frustration and guilt. "I never thought that I wouldn't come back. I assumed that the injection would be enough to make me strong enough to fight them off if anything happened; I never thought that things would get this complicated."

"Seth," Brady's voice was quiet. "You know now that you can't die. If you want Alex to remain human, then you have to keep fighting."

I lowered my head in my hands before nodding in agreement. I couldn't fail this one simple task. It took a year of training to be able to come back, and I wasn't going to let anyone come in the way of taking Alex from me. The beast inside of me rose in agreement. I could feel its anger rising causing me tremble. It would murder an entire city before allowing me to die. After all, the beast was a separate being trapped inside as much as it would want me to disappear it was smart enough to know that if I died it would die as well.

* * *

**Well…. I think that was somewhat eventful… once again I think I failed with making Seth seem evil… I'll try harder next chapter… BTW before I forget check out my story Running With the Wolves it takes place in 1930, everyone is human, and it's inspired by the movie Public Enemies. Basically the La Push Pack is a notorious gang and the Cullens all work for the Seattle police and they're trying to catch the gang. Of course Bella finds herself madly in love with cop Edward Cullen, but she's also in love with gang leader, Jacob Black, and she's in the very middle of the conflict.**

**Story is much better than my choppy unconnected summary…**

**~B**

**PS. REVIEWING MAKES YOU SEXXY!**

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	17. La Push Instincts

**Book Five: Seth**

**La Push Instincts?**

Another week passed and we soon found ourselves wandering around Brazil. The longer we stayed the more the constant nagging feeling at the back of my head got stronger. I would occasionally ask Brady if he could feel it too, and he told me he could. We both deduced that someone or some_thing _must be following us. The three of us left confusing trials, walked in circles, and even swam across rivers, but the feeling wouldn't go away.

By the time week seven passed, all of us were ready to leave Brazil. We immediately got a flight to Houston, Texas, hoping that whatever was following us would stay in Brazil. Once the plane landed, the feeling seemed to have gotten stronger instead of weaker, and every part of my body was screaming for me to run. Ironically, my body was urging me to run back to La Push.

* * *

"You know that saying 'follow your instincts,'" I questioned nervously as the three of us shuffled into a small diner. Brady nodded warily and I glanced behind us. "Well wouldn't it be weird if a whole pack of people – no pun intended – was going to attempt to kill me the moment my foot steps on La Push soil, and yet my instincts were telling me that I need to return to La Push?"

Alex looked up from her staring contest with her sneakers to face me, "You've been having feelings that are telling you to go back to La Push?"

"I've been having them too," Brady added quietly. "I think that Paul or Jared is trying to contact us through the mental link to persuade us to go home, but since we're not Pack anymore we can't follow their orders, so we're stuck with this weird feeling."

"You think Paul is trying to alpha order us?" Alex gave me a look of confusion and I wrapped my arm around her. "Brady is attempting to convince me that Paul is trying to command us to come back home."

"Why would he do that?" Alex groaned angrily causing a few curious stares to turn our way. "I mean, shouldn't he be glad you left? If I were him, I'd count my blessings and pray that you never came back!"

"She has a point." Brady tapped his chin. "The only reason they'd want us back home is if they're planning something."

There was an awkward silence before Brady spoke again, "Do you think they convinced Bella to help them?" Alex stared at Brady with a blank look while I urged him to continue. "Bella was Jake's best friend, and once she finds out about your fight with him she'll immediately side with La Push."

"Bella's human…" Alex's confusion washed over the table and she frowned. "Well she was dating that vampire guy, so is she gonna get him to do something for her…"

"Bella isn't human anymore, hun." I corrected Alex in a quiet voice. "She got turned after she had a half vampire baby."

"Oh wait, she's in England." Brady smiled. "So we're only dealing with five wolves. Seth, you'll take Paul, Jared, and Quil. I'll take Embry and Collin."

"Where's Alex going to go?"

"I can stay with Catalina."

"Good," I nodded my head before turning to look at Brady. "We're going to La Push."

* * *

**Agh the next scene is gonna be extra important!**

**i've given up with trying to make Seth seem evil... I just can't do it...**

**And For all of you that reviewed last time YOU'RE OFFICIALLY SEXY!**

**So go on.. click the sexy button**

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	18. Planning

**Book Five: Seth**

**Planning**

Brady and I sat hunched over in a corner of our small hotel room while Alex nervously paced around the room. In my hand, I held the answers to all our problems; it was our ticket to freedom, but Alex decided it would be better if we thought through the plan instead of rushing into it. Meanwhile, the urge to go to La Push was getting stronger and stronger.

Alex paused for a moment to look at us before continuing to pace. "This might not work." She mumbled uncertainly as she looked at Brady. "If something goes wrong, then there's a high chance none of us will make it out alive."

"Alex," Brady sighed, placing a hand dramatically on her shoulder, "we'll make it out perfectly fine. All we need to do is follow Seth's half-thought-up plan."

"That's the problem Brady!" Alex smacked Brady's hand off her shoulder. "It's only half-thought-up, and there are probably loopholes…"

Brady opened his mouth to reply, but I screamed angrily cutting off any further words. "God damn it all," without warning I stabbed Brady with the syringe ignoring Alex's startled gasp. "This is what we need to do, Alex. By the way, make sure he doesn't scream–"

My words were cut off as Brady began a series of violent spasms while letting out painful screams. Alex's face was mortified and I found myself shocked that I couldn't even muster up a small amount of pity for my friend. We watched him for a while before a I leaned back as best as I could in the small space.

"We're gonna be here for at least a week, but while we're here there are some complications I need to talk to you about involving our transformation…"

* * *

**Sorry it's short, but tonight or tomorrow there will be another chapter that will make up for the shortness…**

**~B**


	19. Amusement

**Book Five: Seth**

**Amusement**

Brady was in pain. Sure he wasn't in enough pain to be screaming and rolling around like a wimp, but he was in pain nonetheless. He was whimpering like a dying puppy – no pun intended – and occasionally he would stay conscious long enough to send a glare over to me.

I was amused.

Whenever he was conscious, I would gently nudge him with the toe of my sneakers. The logical part of my brain forced me to briefly consider the dangers of my actions, but the part of my brain that was bored won that battle, so here I was poking Brady with my finger as he glared at me.

"How ya feeling?" I smiled cheerfully at my friend ignoring how he hissed at me before falling into another series of violent spasms. "Still in pain," I patted him on the head as gently as I could. "It'll get better little buddy."

A small piece of balled up paper hit me squarely in the chest, and I glanced up at an angry Alex. Normally, I would've begun apologizing but the moment I looked at her I seemed to forget why I was supposed to apologize in the first place, and who could blame me? She looked beautiful just lying there on the bed. Her arms were crossed, and her eyes were stunning.

"Stop messing with Brady." I blinked for a moment confused about who this Brady kid was, but a quick look to the left answered my question. I had forgotten Brady was here.

"Of course," Alex snorted, and I returned to poking Brady. This time I poked him harder since he thought it was necessary to get me in trouble with Alex. Maybe it was my fault since I decided to mess with him in the first place but if he hadn't started whimpering and stuff none of this would happen. "Stupid little–"

"Seth," Alex's voice cut me out of my poking match, and I instantly turned to look at her. "Stop messing with Brady."

Before she could turn to look away, I leapt up on the small bed and began to kiss her neck. "You're so beautiful," I murmured in-between sentences. She giggled and I continued my attack.

"I doubt Brady wants to witness you do whatever your doing to my neck," Alex gently pushed me away and I pouted.

"Are you kidding?" I looked back at the whimpering kid on the floor. "He loves this stuff. I mean figuring he gets no action..." I gave up on finishing my sentence and went to kiss her again only to end up kissing a pillow.

Giving up on my Alex attack, I returned to floor to glare at Brady's half-conscious form. Curse that kid for being in pain.

* * *

Brady's whimpers got quieter and quieter until eventually he just lay there with his mouth hanging open. I won't lie; Brady looked extremely funny when he was on the ground twitching with his mouth open and eyes rolling around. I hoped I didn't look that stupid when this happened to me.

I sighed and began to busy myself with doodling pictures on Brady's arms. About halfway through with his left arm he began twitching again making my flower look more like a demented bunny.

"Brady stop ruining everything!" I began poking him with pen for a few moments when suddenly his twitching stopped. Looking back, I realize that if I wasn't so busy trying to poke a hole through my friend's arm I would've noticed how his eyes seemed to focus on me and his hands clenched into fists. "Now my doodles are messed up!" I bent down to try and fix the flower/bunny doodle when Brady's fist connected with my eye.

"What the fuck, Seth?" I whimpered and tried to scoot way from Brady but was quickly pinned to the ground. "What is wrong with you?"

"You're awake," I smiled at Brady's shocked face and quickly planted a kiss on his forehead. "Has it been a week already? Well, we must get going. Time for you to go home."

* * *

**This was mostly a comic relief type thing… because the next chapters won't be too happy…**

**Anyways remember that sexy button I told you about – yeah the one that says review – I'm going to have to ask you to click it and leave a nice comment. You'll get a cake made with love if you do!**


	20. Book Six: Brady: Admitting Feelings

**Book Six: Brady**

**Admitting Feelings**

As soon as Seth and I settled our argument, we immediately left to go to La Push. Surprisingly enough, when we got to La Push there wasn't a werewolf army waiting for us.

We cautiously made our way through the town until we made it to Catalina's house which I guess doubled as Paul's house. To say I was terrified of what might when we knocked on the door would've been an understatement. In fact, it would've been the understatement of the century. I think we were all a little scared of what or who was waiting inside for us.

I knocked on the door shocked when Catalina answered it. Behind her, I could see a tired Paul and a shocked Jared sitting on the stairs. Both of them immediately jumped up and before they could move towards me I began to speak:

"Catalina, I want you to know that I'm sorry for avoiding you and all that jazz because honestly I'm kind of in love with you, and I need you in a creepy way. So I guess I hope that you can forgive me, but I completely understand if you never want to see me again." Catalina opened her mouth to reply, but I slammed my lips on hers before she could even say anything.

Let me tell you something, those two-and-a-half seconds of kissing her was so freaking amazing that I can't even describe it. So I'll just tell you this, we must've looked like we were having fun because Paul ripped me away from her so fast that it took me a moment to process what happened. Seth growled angrily as Jared roughly grabbed his arm.

"OK, you guys have fun," Alex called after us trying to make it seem like she wasn't worried. I heard her say something to Catalina, but I was too busy trying to focus on where Jared and Paul were dragging us that I didn't really notice what she said.

After a moment of dragging us, they dropped us on the ground, and within seconds the whole Pack had surrounded us. I kept my eyes glued on Embry and Collin while Seth growled at Paul.

"How's it going, traitors?" My head snapped over to Paul shocked and a little hurt that he would call us traitors to our faces. Seth seemed to be indifferent to it, but by Paul's facial expression I knew that my face showed exactly how I felt about it. "Have fun running around Spain?"

"We weren't in Spain, and we know you were following us." Seth's accusation must've hit home because out of the corner of my eye I saw Collin shift uncomfortably.

Paul didn't respond. Actually, he phased and lunged at Seth's throat. I thought Seth was risking it by waiting to the last minute to roll away, but I kept my comments to myself and lunged at Collin while phasing mid-air. Apparently, we'd been assigned to fight each other because he kept attacking me while Embry, Quil, Paul, and Jared all tried to take out Seth. None of them decided to even consider that I could've gone through the same change as Seth while I was gone.

Collin circled me for a while, and I knew that he was shocked by my new size. He lunged at me, and I met him halfway easily tackling him to the ground. We rolled down a hill before coming to a stop at the base of a tree. He wriggled out from underneath me before coming at me again. This time I was ready, and I dodged his attack before sinking my teeth into his side. He whimpered loudly while repeatedly slamming my head into a tree and by the fifth slam I was so disoriented that I released the small bit of skin that was still in my mouth.

When had he gotten so persistent?

I got up on my feet unsteadily before lunging at him. We both fell to the ground each of us clawing at each other before I managed to claw his neck.

His body went limp, and I struggled to get up. I had just killed a brother. I wanted to howl or nudge his body with my nose to convince myself that he wasn't dead, but a piece of me rose up in my head and took control of my body.

_You had to do what was needed. He would've killed you if you didn't attack him first._ I shuddered at the voice that spoke to me in my head. I wasn't scared of how the voice sounded, or how it justified the death of a brother; I was scared of how much the voice sounded like my own.

I glanced at Collin's body before rushing up the hill where Seth was fighting with the rest of the wolves. I would be lying if I said Seth was somehow managing to fight them off. Sure, he clawed Jared up pretty good, but between the five of them, Seth was getting his butt kicked.

_I'll handle Quil and Embry._ I growled at the two wolves ignoring Seth's protests.

The two of them left Seth to circle me and I lunged for Quil. I managed to claw his side up pretty good before Embry phased into his human form and wrapped his arms around my neck. I panicked and slammed into a tree which succeeded in throwing him off of me, but before I could fully appreciate my escape Quil angrily came at me.

Seth whimpered as Paul bit into his leg, and I watched for a moment as Jared almost succeeded in getting to Seth's neck. Ignoring the two wolves behind me, I tackled Paul sending us both tumbling away from Seth. Embry tried to leap at me, but Seth managed intercept him.

I leapt up and slashed at Paul's nose before running up to Quil who was clawing Seth's back. A loud whimper escaped Embry's mouth before his body went limp, and Quil started to slash at Seth with more anger than before. Honestly, I couldn't blame him. Seth had just killed Quil's two best friends and his Alpha.

_Brady, get Jared!_ Seth's voice went through the mental link momentarily surprising me. His voice sounded raspy and far away, but I nodded anyways and lunged at the wolf who was stumbling over to help Quil. Jared didn't have enough time to even try to move out the way before my teeth cut into his neck.

His body fell on the ground, and I turned to face Paul only to see him claw at Seth's already torn up stomach. A wave of agony rolled over me as my only friend collapsed on the ground unmoving. I didn't even bother to look for a heartbeat, and instead howled loudly before lunging at Paul.

I clawed at his neck only to miss my target by mere centimeters. Paul growled at me before knocking me over. I angrily leapt back up to my feet and tried to go back to him only to feel his teeth sink into my front leg. I yelped and slashed at his chest.

He clawed at my underside and I whimpered. I tried to move, but even the slightest movement caused a jolt of pain to shoot up and down my body. Paul angrily raised his paw to finish me off when Seth tackled the older wolf off of me. I looked up through blurry eyes just in time to see Seth sink his teeth into Paul's neck.

My vision faded in and out and I could Seth crawling towards me. I closed my eyes allowing the tiredness to seep into my bones. I could really use a good nap. Seth whimpered next to me, and I let out a playful growl.

Somewhere in those next few moments, my heart stopped beating.

* * *

**So we have two more chapters and an epilogue to write.**

**~B**


	21. Book Seven: Seth: The Final Fight

**Book Seven: Seth**

**Final Fight**

I stared at Brady as his lips smashed against Catalina's. What can I say? The kid has got guts; personally, I wouldn't kiss Paul's little sister while he was in the room. Jared leapt for me at the same time Paul went to grab Brady, but I was too preoccupied trying to make sure Alex got inside safely that I didn't notice Jared's hand wrapping around my neck until he was dragging me to the woods with Paul only half a step behind us dragging Brady.

Huh, this wasn't how I thought things would go…

"Ok you guys have fun," Alex waved half-heartedly at us, and I couldn't help but smile at her. She turned to talk to Catalina, but despite the fact that I was straining hear what she was saying, I couldn't quite hear what she was saying.

We dragged deeper into the woods before they dropped us on the ground. Paul sneered at me and unable to control myself I growled at him.

"How's it going, traitors?" Paul's tone held a layer of disgust and I struggled to keep my face blank. Beside me, Brady stared open-mouthed at Paul, and I felt the strange urge to poke him in the jaw. "Have fun running around Spain?"

"We weren't in Spain, and we know you were following us." I accused Paul angrily and out of the corner of my eye I saw Collin shift uncomfortably. How nice, they sent the youngest pup to chase after a wolf that murdered an Alpha and a Beta. Oh yes, Collin would've stood a chance if I were to fight him.

I waited for Paul's reply not too shocked when opted to phase and attack me. I rolled out the way at the last minute before phasing as well. Immediately, he smashed into me forcing us to the ground. He managed to pin me down while Embry, Quil, and Jared phased. I forced Paul off me and slashed angrily at Embry.

He rolled out the way giving Quil an easy opening to slash my nose. I growled in pain and managed to fend off Jared only to have Paul and Embry tackle me down. Quil tried to aim for my throat but my constant moving made it hard for him to get a clear target. Somehow, I managed to sink my teeth into his side and he yelped smashing his paw into my nose. Seriously, what's up with attacking my nose?

Forcing Paul and Embry off of me was easy, but they're attacks were hitting too fast and there were too many to fight off. I leapt over Jared's head shocked when Quil's teeth clamped around my legs to drag me back. Damn.

I kicked Embry in the nose – ha! Revenge – and managed to slash Paul in the side before going to Jared. I managed to get a lot of good hits in before Jared took an easy swipe at my body. Suddenly, the whole group was slashing me, and I couldn't even manage to get up. Those assholes!

I nipped them occasionally, but they were moving too fast, and I was in too much pain.

_I'll handle Quil and Embry. _I barely managed to protest before Brady distracted the two wolves and they stopped attacking me to go and turned their attention to the younger wolf.

I felt myself try to get up and fail only to succeed in having Paul's teeth clamp down on my leg. I whimpered loudly ignoring Brady's brief glance of worry. Jared nearly took off my head and I wriggled away from Jared and Paul.

In a weird act of friendship, Brady tackled Paul just as the older wolf was about to attack me. I was about to go assist when Quil began wildly slashing my back.

Seriously, I just got Paul off!

I could see Jared making his way over and desperately I reopened the mind link. _Brady, get Jared!_ Brady lunged at the wolf and I slowly tried to stand up to go attack Paul only to have that damned wolf claw at my underside. Whatever small strip of skin that was left was already straining to not fall off, but Paul's claws easily tore through it.

A strong shudder passed through me, and I collapsed on the ground blacking out.

When I woke up, Brady was fighting Paul. I felt my head hit the ground and I went back to sleep. When I woke up again, Paul was about to finish Brady off. With a rush of adrenaline, I rushed over to Paul and easily sank my teeth into his neck. Satisfied I rolled off his body to begin slowly crawling over to Brady. By the time I got over to him he was fading in and out, and his heartbeat was slowing down.

_C'mon kid. Don't die on me._ I tried to talk to Brady through the mental link, but my voice was too faint to be heard. Maybe he wasn't dying. He could just be suffering through those little healing problems we have occasionally.

I whimpered loudly as his heart slowed down even more. Brady growled playfully for a moment before going still. I lifted my head straining to hear his heartbeat.

_Tha-thump….. tha-thump…. Tha-thump…. _

I whimpered again at the strange empty silence that seemed to echo around the woods. His heart wasn't beating. I lifted my head to whimper, but I didn't want to bear the sadness that would overwhelm me when my cry goes unanswered.

My heart slowed down as I placed my head on the ground.

Damn.

This wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Everything was supposed to be alright.

Three blurry figures approached me, and the last thing I remembered was going to sleep.

* * *

***sniff sniff* I'm crying because this is coming to a close, and I probably just pissed everyone off, so I'm hiding underneath my kitchen table!**

**Well... if you're upset just tell me, but I promise you're gonna love me by the time the epilouge comes and the book is officially over :)**

**~B**

**PS CLICK THE REVIEW BUTTON AND I'LL UPDATE EXTRA FAST!**


	22. Book Eight: Alex: The Wait

**Book Eight: Alex**

**The Wait**

"OK, you guys have fun," I called out weakly ignoring Catalina's confused expression. As soon as I thought they were far enough away for me to speak without being hear I turned to face my friend. "Listen, I know you're pissed about me running away, but I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Catalina grabbed my hands and began to inspect my skin. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," I glanced behind me nervously before turning back to my friend. "I need you to get Aaron over here."

When Aaron got to Catalina's house I led them both inside before confessing everything. I explained how the tribe's legends are true, and I explained how Jacob imprinted on me the day after the Fourth of July party. I went through a heartfelt story of how Seth and I met up in private, how Jacob and Sam's gang attacked Seth, and where he went when he ran away. I told about what happened when we ran away, and what was going on right now in the woods. By the time I finished, I was in tears and both my friends had their arms around me.

"Oh, _chica_, I can't believe you went through that alone." Catalina pressed her lips to my forehead. "I think my brother is the biggest jerk in the world. How could he let that happen to Seth?"

"What's going to happen next?" Aaron questioned. "Where are you going to go? What'll happen to us?"

I closed my eyes unable to answer any of their questions. I knew that being away from them for as long as I had managed to tear me up on the inside, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle leaving them again. When – or if – the Volturi arrive, I could always ask them to turn Catalina and Aaron into vampires as well, but did I really want that to happen to my two best friends?

"We're _amigas_, we won't let anything happen to you or Seth." Catalina's faith made tears well up in my eyes and I couldn't help but hug her again. "If you need us, we're here. You don't have to do anything alone."

"Thanks," I whispered. My heart felt heavy in my chest as I pulled out of our embrace, "but this is something that I have to do alone. When this over, I'll come back for you two."

Aaron pulled me in for another hug. "Don't do anything stupid, girl." I felt a tear slide down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away.

"I love you guys. I'll be back soon."

* * *

Thank God my mother wasn't home.

I don't think I would've been able to carry through with my plan if I had seen her when I walked through that door. I wouldn't have had the strength to be able to say goodbye to my own mother, and I don't if it made me a coward or not, but I know that as long as I live I'd never be able to tell her goodbye.

My feet carried me over to my chair, and I collapsed on it finally allowing my tears to flow freely. I cried for an hour. I cried because I probably lost a family and friends out there in those woods. I cried because my mom would never know what happened to me. I cried because I knew that this was the end. I wasn't sure who it was the end for, but I knew that today would be the end of this.

I must've sat in that chair for two hours before the door rang. I pondered whether or not to answer it but before I could make up my mind the door flew open revealing three tall figures. Each one wore a long black cloak that covered them like a shadow. Their hoods were up, and no matter how hard I looked I couldn't see a face. The tallest one stood slightly in front of the others as they surveyed the area.

"Are you Alexandria Melissa James?" the three figures spoke at once and the different tones blended together in a music-like harmony. I barely managed to nod my head because my body had gone numb from the soothing sound of their voices. "We are the leaders of the Volturi, the three kings, and the rulers of the immortal world." In synch, the three figures raised gloved hands and casually threw back their hoods.

I was stunned. Each figure was a man with long wavy hair and the face of an angel. The man in front had a stern yet soft gaze as his eyes swept across the room taking in my small house. His long black hair fell to his shoulders, and his god-like beauty seemed to make my house seemed to make my house look drab. The man to the right of him had eyes that looked worn down by years of grief, and yet even in his depressing state he still managed to hold a certain amount of grace and dignity that would be coveted by any model. The last man had blonde hair, and a cruel unkind gaze. His lips seemed to be permanently set into a frown that somehow added to his beauty.

"Hello, child," the first man spoke and gentle voice, and whatever fear I once felt was gone when I realized why these three gods were standing in front of me. My body felt like ice and any emotions that were swirling inside of me was replaced with numbness as I stared into his crimson colored eyes. "My name is Aro Volturi; I've heard a lot about you."

"Aro," the blonde haired man spoke loudly. "Let's not waste our time chatting with the human."

"Ah yes, of course Caius." Aro bent slightly to Caius showing the man respect. "The man who just spoke is my brother, Caius, and the other man is my other brother, Marcus." Marcus lifted an eyebrow as he stared at me. "You know why we're here, right?"

"You're here because I have to take Seth's place," I swallowed nervously as Aro's face lit up with glee. "I have to join the Volturi Guard because Seth is dead." Aro moved forward, and I scooted the chair back a little to put more space in-between us. "Prove it."

"Excuse me," Caius sneered at me flashing rows of sharp jagged at me, but I was unafraid. "You ignorant, weak, pathetic, little human!"

"Caius, calm down." Marcus's voice broke through the air almost calming the tense atmosphere. "We should allow the human to talk."

The three kings looked at me impatiently, and I swallowed before continuing my statement, "Prove to me that Seth is dead."

Aro smiled as if he was proud of me for questioning Seth's death. I cringed as the vampire walked towards me with long purposeful strides. He grasped my small hand in his larger, colder one, and I felt myself get pulled into my memories.

I sat across from Seth holding both of his hands in my mine. His eyes were sad as he stared at me. There seemed to be a depressing mood around the room and Brady's sad whimpers were only adding to the atmosphere. Seth pressed his lips to my cheek, and I sighed.

"What was the thing you wanted to tell me about your healing?" I asked quietly. Seth stiffened against my cheek.

"I'll tell you later." Seth pulled away leaving me with a dull ache. "I need to talk to you about something else." Without waiting for my reply he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his lap. I felt my heartbeat accelerate from the contact with him. He pressed his lips to my temple. "When the Volturi get there I need you to stall."

"Stall," I repeated what he said before frowning. "Why?"

"Because I may or may not be alive." Seth sounded impatient, and I nodded my head. "Stall for at least an hour maybe longer. If I'm alive, I'll be there by then."

"Why will it take you that long?"

"Because of the little 'healing problem' you get when you change." Seth sighed against my temple. "Just stall. Ask them to prove that I'm dead. Ask questions about what life will be like." I nodded my head and he pulled away. "But most importantly," Seth pulled even closer to him, "do not touch Aro's hand."

A cold shudder went through my body as I nodded my head. My memory crashed into me, and I remembered Aaron and Catalina waiting for me and the three kings that were waiting outside of my mind. I was in a memory.

Aro suddenly dropped my hand and I found myself slamming into the chair gasping for breath. My hands grabbed my chest trying to ease my pounding heart. The memory of Seth's lips pressing against my head was enough to make me yearn for the real Seth. I leaned back allowing my grief to wrap around me.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"You'll be a part of the Volturi Guard. Everything will be marvelous darling." Aro's hand reached for mine and I cringed away.

"What's–"

"Enough stalling,"

Aro grabbed my hand and pulled it to his lips. I watched as he inhaled deeply through his nose before pulling my long-sleeved shirt up to reveal my forearm. His cold lips trailed up and down my arm before his teeth grazed the skin.

I didn't scream.

* * *

**I'm really sad about the book ending, but don't worry we do have an epilogue. I want to thank everyone that's been here and that's been reviewing. I loved the support, and I'm sad to see this end.**

**~B**


	23. Epilouge: Alex

**Epilogue: Alex**

"There are a lot of stories out there in the world, and all of them talk about love and betrayal and vengeance and how eventually they triumphed over it all, and they're now happily married with the one person they love the most. My story isn't like that. It doesn't have that stupid fairy tale ending everyone seemed to be blessed with. Mine is about pain and how no matter what you do that pain becomes a part of you and it drives away the one thing you care about.

"I guess my story started out with a chair. It was this very chair that seemed to have caused everything in my life to turn out the way it was despite contrary beliefs. Without that chair certain things wouldn't have happened and who knows where I would've ended up by now? Probably where I started out…

"My mom – believe it or not – went into labor on that chair. I met Seth when I was sitting in that chair. The first time Aaron and Catalina came over my house I spent the whole time sitting in that chair. When I realized I liked Seth, I was in that chair. The first time I got drunk was in that chair. The first time I fainted was across from that chair. My life even ended in that chair.

"Everything I had ever done had most likely been connected to that chair. But even though I went through bad things in that chair; I also went through good things. That chair made up my childhood. That's part of the reason I left it in La Push instead of trying to take it with me. I wanted to let my mom remember me through my little red chair."

I ended the story and stared at the group of children as they watched me with a look of wonder. A tall Native American man wrapped his arm around my shoulders protectively

A young girl with red hair and freckles all over her face scrunched up her nose. "But if you died, how did you get here?" I smiled as all the other children nodded their heads in agreement.

"I never died," the children frowned at me. "I said that I ended one life. I never died, I just… moved on."

A second tall Native American man sitting across the plaza raised his half empty wine glass to me before wrapping his arms around two girls sitting next to him. I smiled at him before turning back to the children.

"I feel like I left something out…" I tapped my chin thoughtfully while watching the children out the corner of my eye. Next to me, the man chuckled.

"You left out the most important part," he noted. I feigned shock ignoring how the man gently pinched my cheeks. "The part where the sexy hero and his equally sexy sidekick save you."

"I did, didn't I?" The children seemed to scoot forward even more as they silently ecouraged me to continue.

* * *

Aro's teeth grazed my skin, and before I could even understand what was going on the vampire was gone. I could tell the other two vampires were just as confused as I was because they immediately crouched down and began looking for whatever abducted their master. Marcus shifted slightly to his right as he did so the window closest to us exploded distracting us for a moment. When I finally looked back Caius was gone.

Marcus was panicking now. He looked desperately around the room before quickly rushing over to me. I began to struggle, but his cold arms wrapped around my neck.

"Reveal yourselves," he yelled. Marcus looked around the room, but had barely managed to fully rotate his head before an invisible force slammed into us. My bones rattled from the impact, yet the two seconds it took for me to recover was enough time for Marcus to disappear.

My heart pounded loudly in my chest, and I squinted at the door that the three kings left wide open. A large figure began to move towards me forcing me to climb behind the chair. I was planning to throw the object at the beast that planned attacking me next, but before I could even lift the chair the man started laughing.

"You're safe now, Alex." The familiar voice caused my heart to stop. "There's no need to hide behind small furniture."

I leapt up from my hiding spot obviously shocked to see the identity of my rescuer. "Seth," I leaned forward as if his face would somehow change to reveal someone else. "Where's Brady? I thought they said you two died."

"Didn't you remember what I told you in the hotel room?" Seth shook his head sadly almost succeeding in trying to look disappointed in me. "When we suffer life threatening wounds, our body puts us in a coma-like sleep while we heal. It usually takes about an hour, and most of the time our hearts stop. That's why the Volturi thought we died." Seth laughed at my shocked expression. "Aren't you glad I wasn't a few seconds late? You would've already been changing into a vampire."

Brady burst into the room letting out a vicious snarl. He looked at Seth and me before standing up to his full height. I watched as he fixed his messy hair and shifted his shorts. "I thought Marcus was here."

"I took care of him," Seth dismissed Brady's sentence with a wave of his hand. "I'm more concerned with Alex. I think I gave her a heart attack."

Brady looked me over curiously. "She's fine." I watched the younger wolf collapse on my sofa with a loud sigh. "My body is still sore from getting mauled about an hour ago. I need a nap." As if Seth was responding to Brady's sentence, the older wolf let out a loud yawn.

"We need to get out of the country first." Seth moved to the door with Brady following, but quickly stopped when he realized I wasn't joining them. He looked at me questioningly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not leaving without Catalina and Aaron." Seth groaned loudly, but I cut him off by holding up my hand. "Brady didn't just confess his feelings to Catalina just to leave her. I already told the two of them everything anyway."

Seth and I stared at each for a moment. After a while, Seth relaxed his tense posture. "Fine, they can come."

* * *

"I guess that's the end." I ran a hand through my hair as I watched the little one's reactions. Each one had a look of shock and admiration. "Any questions," no hands shot up in the air like I hoped, and I shrugged nonchalantly.

I grabbed the Native American man's hand and led him over to the group that had been listening to my story from across the plaza. The other Native American smiled at me and gestured for us to pull up two chairs.

"Good story, Alex," he smiled again, and pulled the girl closest to him even closer. "But I feel like you could've given Seth and I a little more heroic qualities. Also you should've mentioned how Catalina and I eventually became a couple and how Aaron started dating this Brazilian half vampire named Nahuel."

"Hey, it's my love story," Seth cried. He released my hand in order to crack his knuckles. "Don't try to make _my_ love story sound like _your_ love story. Brady, you're in denial. You're not the hero; you're the sidekick."

Brady grunted in response deciding that further argument was no longer necessary. I watched with interest as the wolf drained his glass in record time. "Brady, don't get upset." Catalina pressed her lips to his cheek. "You're my hero."

"Can you get anymore cliché?" Aaron pretended to gag as she grabbed Catalina's forgotten wine glass. "Damn," Aaron easily drained the glass before setting it down next to Brady's empty glass.

"Aaron that's hypocritical figuring you fell in love with a Brazilian waiter who serenaded you while he stood underneath your balcony." Seth's comment caused a hush to fall over our table.

"You never said Nahuel serenaded you!" Catalina stopped kissing Brady and turned to glare at her best friend.

"Guys," I sighed as Catalina began to fuss with Aaron, "you do know that since Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum killed the leaders of the Volturi that we're going to have a vampire mafia out to kill us." Brady shrugged, and Seth merely grunted. "You guys are OK with that?"

"These guys took out a whole wolf pack and the leaders to a mafia by themselves!" Aaron threw her hands in the air dramatically. "I think with a couple of allies and with my super strong half-human boyfriend they'll handle the Volturi just fine."

I smiled appreciatively at Aaron's spunky attitude trying to ignore how my heart pounded when Seth pressed his lips to my temple. Brady held Catalina's hand, and Aaron began to flag down a waiter to get her another drink. Yes, we might not have been your stereotypical vampire hunters (really, would you have imagined two werewolves, a half vampire, and three humans in your head if someone mentioned vampire hunters? I know I wouldn't), but I knew for sure that we could handle the Volturi.

Seth kissed and my heart seemed to stop.

After all, people could achieve crazy things when they were in LOVE.

* * *

**OMG it's really over… wow… this story took a different turn then I thought it would. I honestly had a completely different ending in mind, but once I hit chapter 10 I knew this was route I was going to take.**

**I want to thank all my faithful reviewers, the people that have added the story their favorites, and the people that have added this story to their story alerts.**

**I hope everyone that was with me from the beginning enjoyed the ride, and everyone that will read this once it is now finished will enjoy the book.**

**For those of you still interested in how Seth and Alex's story turn out, I'm working on a sequel called HATE going through the gang's story as they take on the Volturi. Please add me to your author alerts so that you can know when the sequel comes out.**

**I know this is the last chapter, but please I urge you to click that sexy little irresistible review button and tell me how much you hate/loved/liked the story, and how you felt while reading it. Also tell me if you think I should do a sequel.**

**Until next time,**

**~Bla338 (Yeah, first time I ever signed my full name *shudder* let's not do it again)**


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